Never Gonna Be Alone
by Phantom Creedy Lover
Summary: Sequel to Whispers in the Dark.When an old enemy from Englehorn's past returns,the group is forced to return to Skull Island,but things far stranger than when they were first there start to happen.
1. What Hurts the Most

**Okay, for those of you who are reading this, I forgot to mention in the summary that this is the sequel to Who the Director Brought, so you may want to read that first if you haven't. If you have, welcome back and I hope you enjoy the first chap of the sequel. **

Dustin groaned and flipped over in his bed. It had been three years since Kong's fall off the Empire State Building, and he had trouble sleeping almost every night after that day. Not because he remembered the event clearly, because he had failed to tell Elle how he felt about her, and he hadn't seen her in three years because Carl had once again disappeared, probably making yet another film, and she was busy cleaning up after him with the whole Kong incident. And Carl, being the fool he was, had the nerve to tell the crowd that it was his, as in Dustin's fault that the Venture had gotten caught in the storm and made them go onto the island in the first place, which is why he barely got any people to do a job for, so he was even more broke than before, but it was mostly the loss of Elle that got to him. He smiled, remembering a moment that he and her father had shared.

_**Flashback: **_

"_Hey, Englehorn! Come here, boy. I want to ask you a question" _

_A sixteen year old Dustin looked up at Gustave. "Yes Lieutenant?" _

"_Aw, call me by name, boy. No rank needed with me" _

"_Yes Mr. Denham" Dustin nodded. _

_Gustave laughed. "I mean Gustave, not Denham" _

"_Right, sorry- er- Gustave" he felt odd calling his lieutenant by name. _

"_Boy, have you ever been in love?" _

"_What?" Dustin laughed. The question caught him off-guard. "No, sir. I'm only sixteen" _

"_So, that don't mean nothing" the man shrugged. _

_Dustin smiled at the man's wrong grammar- he found the fact that Gustave used 'nothing' instead of 'anything' amusing for some reason. "No. I feel I'm too young for love. If I ever fall in love, it's going to be later in my life" _

_Gustave laughed again. "I like ya, kid. Ya know, I wish my daughter Elle will find a guy like you. Heck, I wish she'll meet you someday. You two would be perfect for each other. _

_Dustin smiled. "I'm sure we would, si-Gustave" he corrected himself. _

"_That a boy" Gustave winked. _

**End flashback**

Dustin sighed. If only Gustave was still alive to see how right he was. He got up and made a cup of coffee, taking a swig of it before opening the paper and flipping through it, freezing at one of the things. He spat out the coffee the second he saw one of the names under missing, complete with a picture on the side.

_**Ellen Denham: Missing: three days**_

_**If you've seen Ellen, contact**_

The rest of the tiny passage was now covered in the coffee he had spit out, but Dustin didn't care. How they considered a person not being seen for three days being 'missing' he would never know, but he didn't care. That was HIS Elle missing.

"Captain! Captain Englehorn open the door! I know you're there!"

Dustin looked at his cabin's door that someone was knocking on frantically. No one had called him captain in three years, and all of his remaining crew had left as well. He opened the door, not recognizing who the person at the door was. Blue shirt, black hat and black pants. He knew he had seen that combination before, but he wasn't sure where. He glanced at the young man's face now, which was when he recognized him. "Jimmy?" the boy was taller, slightly more muscular and he had grown a small amount of stubble, but it was him.

"Captain" Jimmy nodded.

"What are you- How-"

"I came about this" Jimmy held up the paper that Dustin had just been holding moments before. "Elle's missing"

Dustin nodded at the table that the paper was on so Jimmy could see the coffee all over it. "I just saw"

"I know where she is"

"WHAT?!" Dustin's full attention was on the younger boy now.

"I tried to get to you sooner but I couldn't find the Venture until today"

"Cut why and how you're here. Where is she?"

"I saw a couple of guys dragging her onto some ship- the Dutchess, I think"

"This isn't a time for 'I think' Jimmy" Dustin told the boy, already getting his coat.

"I know. I'm certain it's the Dutchess now that I remember it"

Dustin nodded, already out the cabin door and headed for the other side of the Venture to get to the dock, but he stopped, turning back to Jimmy. "I know you care about Elle almost as much as I do, but… why did you seem so frantic about getting me to get her, hm?"

Jimmy looked away. "Well… uh…I know you care about her a lot, probably the most of all of us, but…"

"Jimmy, you can tell me"

"Fine" Jimmy nodded, then looked down. "Because…" he mumbled the rest.

"Jimmy, speak up, man. I'm not going to laugh ta you if it's some ridiculous reason or I'm not going to be irritated at you. Why are you so desperate to get her back?"

Jimmy took a deep breath before looking Dustin right in the eye. "Because she's my sister"


	2. The Gang's Almost All Here

Dustin stared at the boy. "What?"

Jimmy took a deep breath. "I'm telling you the truth, Captain! She is! Here. I can prove it! Remember her necklace with the family crest?" Jimmy asked.

Dustin nodded. "What words were missing?"

"Love and unity."

"Jimmy took something silver out of his pocket and tossed it at Dustin.

The German looked it over, seeing the crest, then love and unity on the bottom. He went pale, looking back at Jimmy. "Jimmy. Swear to me you didn't steal this"

"I swear! I picked Elle's up because I thought it was this one. When I saw it wasn't, you had yours and I didn't know anyone else with some type of chain, Ann was missing and Elle did seem to be looking for something."

Dustin took to a deep breath. This was too much. Elle was missing, and now the youngest member of his previous crew was claiming to be her brother, and now that he looked him over when he finally had a reason, there was no doubt that Jimmy and Elle were siblings. Same hair, same eyes, same ears- they were both spitting images of Gustave. "I… I can't believe this"

"I can't either, but you just have to until we find Elle"

Dustin sighed. He was right. "Has the ship left the docks yet?"

"I don't know, but it was around here last time I saw it"

"Stay here." Dustin ordered, turning to get off the boat, walking back and forth from the dock, examining each ship until he saw 'The Dutchess' on the side of one. Dustin arched an eyebrow. _If Jimmy is right and this is the ship, why haven't they left yet if they have Elle? _He looked around before going onto the ship, looking around to see if any of the crew was around, relieved to find the ship had a similar layout to the Venture. _Does Jimmy even know how much trouble I can get into if this is the wrong ship? Why am I even on here if all he has is a hunch? _His thoughts were disrupted when he heard a few steady knocks, the time between them all the same number of seconds. He walked towards the door, seeing it only opened from the side he was on. He stepped back when the door rattled a bit. "What on Earth?" he muttered, opening the door, a second later someone fell through it, nearly knocking him over but her kept his balance. The person was somewhat tall, had dirty blonde hair- female. "Elle!" he exclaimed.

She looked up at him. It was her, but she was also gagged.

"Elle, what are you- how- who-" Dustin stuttered, taking the gag off.

Elle rolled her eyes. "Dustin why do you ALWAYS have to come to the rescue?"

"What? You're welcome! Your hands are tied. Turn around"

"No! I'm not thanking you because this is what the guys who grabbed me and dragged me here wanted you to do" she growled, turning around so he could undo the ropes either way.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean these guys wanted you to come 'rescue' me. They were at Carl's show with Kong, and after seeing Kong in action wanted a creature like that all their own, and since Carl mentioned you in the introduction…"

"They came to find me but didn't so they did the next best thing and got you?"

"Yes, apparently. But I also overheard I wasn't the first person that they tried with"

"Who else would they use? I don't have any family left"

"That's what I've been trying to figure out this whole time"

There were three other odd sounds coming form another door across the hall.

"What was that?" Dustin asked.

Elle shrugged. "I've heard some odd sounds here but not that one. I guess the walls don't carry much sound here"

"Right. Stay here in case it's one of the crew."

"You think I'm going to stand by doing nothing about one of the guys that were involved in getting me here?"

Dustin sighed. "I find it remarkable how rebellious you are"

"And I find it remarkable you can put up with me"

Dustin shook his head before opening the other door, this time, three people fell out. Two men with dark brown hair and a blonde woman.

"Agh. Damn it that hurt. Took ya long enough, Englehorn. I thought it was you"

"Bruce?!" Elle stared at one of the men.

Bruce straightened up. "Ellie! You're here too?"

"I was locked in the other room"

Bruce looked back at Englehorn who was untying the other two people who turned out to be Ann and Jack. "So ya get her first, Englehorn? How romantic."

Dustin glared at him before gripping the doorframe because the boat started forward.

"What's going on?" Jack asked after he had gotten his gag off.

Dustin looked down the hall. "The engines are starting."

"Ah, right you are, sir. You're a new face. You must be the Captain Englehorn chap we're looking for"

Everyone turned, looking at a man standing in the middle of the hallways a few feet away. He was quite tall with long black hair. "Now, Englehorn, according to Carl Denham, you know the way to this… Skull Island"

"You expect me to tell you when you actually take my friends captive? I don't think so"

"You see, that's just it. You don't have a choice" the man smirked. "You see, we can kill your friends as easily as we got them here, or you can get us to Skull Island. I'll leave you to decide" the man turned, then stopped when another man came up to him.

Dustin swallowed hard when he realized the man had a good grip on Jimmy's arm.

The black haired man returned, dragging Jimmy behind him. "And I do believe this one's yours" he shoved Jimmy forward, then turned and left.

"Jimmy!" Elle yelled, catching him before he hit the ground.

"Hey Elle" Jimmy said weakly, deciding that it wasn't the perfect time to tell her that he was the brother she had been looking for.

Elle looked him over, thinking by the looks of him, the crewmember that had brought him in the first place must've roughhoused him before brining him down to them. "Here. Let me help" she took his arm and put it over her opposite shoulder, supporting him

Jack blinked. "Okay… if he wants to keep us here or kill us… why'd he leave?"

"He probably has a few crewmembers hiding down here" Elle shrugged.

"Hm" everyone else nodded.

"Well, of course you're not gonna get us killed, so you have no choice but to take them to Skull Island. Decision-making over, time for questions. So, Elle, are you an Englehorn yet? You two have any kids?" Bruce asked.

Dustin punched him in the face, causing Bruce to do a 270-degree turn and fall over, unconscious.

Jack looked back at Dustin. "I know ya never liked the guy but that was a bit much, don't ya think? It was only a couple of questions that even I was going to ask again… without the… idiotic tone he used"

"Well, knowing Baxter, it was the questions that he would've asked after those two that caused me to decide to get him out of our hair"

"But he didn't-" Jack began, then smiled. "Ah, I see your point"

Dustin sighed again. "But he is right. I'm not getting you people killed." He looked at Ann. "Are you going to be alright with going back?"

"Kong is gone. I have nothing to worry about now. Just the men on this ship until we reach the island"

Dustin nodded, then looked at Jack.

Jack shrugged. "What choice do we have? I'm in?"

Dustin looked at Elle. "And what do you have to say?"

Elle sighed. "It's unanimous. We're going to Return to Skull Island"

Dustin took in a breath before nodding and walking in the direction that the man that had pretty much threatened them had left in. "Here we go again"


	3. New Faces and Bruce Confronts Englehorn

"So… are there any plans for you and Englehorn?" Ann asked after a short while. The two women had been 'assigned' the room that they were in, and were trying to make up for the time that they hadn't seen each other.

Elle shrugged. "I don't know. Possibly"

"Possibly?" Ann tilted her head, and then smiled. "You can't be unsure just because of that little argument you and him just had. He was just telling you get some rest when he was navigating the ship"

"I know. I just felt bad since these other guys say 'he's the only one that knows the way to the island', meanwhile we got there by mistake, and also because of that, he's not going to get any sleep for a while so I was trying to stay up to keep him company. That's all it was about" Elle replied.

Ann laughed. "Right, if you call him kissing you, giving you an order that didn't even seem like an order, then kissing you again an argument."

Elle smiled. "Well I would've liked some input!" she replied, then frowned when she heard footsteps coming towards their room, then going past it. "I just don't get it"

"What?"

"These guys pretty much kidnap you, Jack, Bruce and I, throw us in rooms and wait for Dustin- er, Englehorn, and now they're so civil and they leave us alone? What's that about?"

Ann nodded in agreement. "Hm"

Elle shook her head. "But enough of that, and enough about me. What about you and Jack?"

"Well, we're married and expecting a baby" Ann replied.

Elle's jaw dropped. "OH MY GOD!" she hugged her friend. "Congrats! Why didn't you tell me before"

"I had a choice?" Ann asked with a smile.

"True" Elle nodded. "Hey, wait. How many days was it until Dust- UGH! Eng-"

Ann chuckled. "You call Englehorn by his first name so many times I know who you mean. Go ahead, call him Dustin"

"Thank you. But how many days was it until the night Dustin got the code about Carl and I?"

"About the 4th night… why?"

Elle blinked. "It's the 4th night now. Do you think-"

"Tell him?" Ann asked.

Elle nodded.

"You're right. It kind of WAS your fault we got there"

"My _BROTHER'S_ fault" Elle corrected her with a smile.

"Your name was on the warrant, too" Ann replied with a smile of her own.

"Ugh. I thought you were on my side" Elle argued.

"I am" Ann replied.

"Difficult" Elle poked Ann before leaving. She went up to the wheelhouse, coming close to laughing at Dustin's focused expression.

He noticed her after a few seconds. "Elle, what are you still doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep. I was worried about you, and I also remembered we're at the point where you got the code about the warrant for my brother and I, so…"

"Turn?" he asked.

Elle nodded. "Right"

Dustin smiled. "I can always depend on you"

"You got that that right" Elle smiled, going over to him.

Dustin put an arm around her. "I missed you"

"I missed you too." Elle sighed. "And now I realize that I officially hate Carl"

Dustin chuckled. "You've already said that before" he pointed out.

"I know, but now that I have you and he pretty much took me away from you…" Elle smiled when she figured he realized that she had set him up to say something- which he did.

"You're difficult, you know that?" he smirked.

"That would be Ann" Elle replied.

Someone cleared their throat at the entrance of the wheelhouse.

Dustin and Elle turned to see Bruce looking around awkwardly.

"Uh… yeah. Hi. Jack had me send up some grub for you guys" the actor said, still looking around as he held up two plates of food.

"Thanks" Elle nodded, taking them.

"Uh huh. Geez this thing's a dump. The Venture was better than this" Bruce said, looking around.

Dustin glared at him.

Bruce laughed nervously. "Uh… yeah. Hey, Elle. Jack wants to see you about something"

"Oh, really?" Elle tilted her head.

"Yeah"

"Okay. Well excuse me, then" Elle left.

Dustin looked at her leaving, then when she was gone he looked back at Bruce. "Driscoll isn't looking for her, is he?"

"No. I needed her gone to get my point across." Bruce said, walking into the wheelhouse.

Dustin raised his eyebrow, amused.

"Now listen, Englehorn. You may've gotten MY girl in the end, but I swear. You break her heart I will break you" Bruce growled.

Dustin raised his eyebrows, trying not to laugh. "Is that so?"

Bruce looked over at Dustin. He had an inch on the guy, but he was doing a hell of a job intimidating him. "Well… try to" he corrected himself.

Dustin smirked, crossing his arms. "Then I can assure you, Baxter. I have no intention of breaking _MY_ girl's heart" he replied, copying what Bruce had just done.

"How can you prove that?" Bruce demanded.

"I don't need to show you proof. All you need to know is that I love her- which I do"

Bruce was silent for a few moments before he frowned. "…Damn!" he stormed off.

Dustin sighed and smiled, then looked up as one of the crewmembers came into the wheelhouse. "What do you want?" he demanded, his smile instantly fading, then it was replaced with an expression of confusion when he noticed the crewmember was a woman.

The woman looked him over for a moment. "My father wants to tell you that we're coming up into fog"

Dustin blinked. _Already? That's not right? Wait- father? Who's her father? _"your father?"

"The guy who dragged your lover and her friends on the ship" the woman replied. "The one that was the first to speak with you"

Dustin nodded. Something about this woman just told him she didn't want to be here- let alone be involved in coming. But then again, there was one question that stuck out in his mind, and as much as he didn't want to know, and figured she didn't know in general, he asked it. "What's become of Denham?"

The woman shrugged. "I'm not sure. My father left and started making this plan the day after Kong's show began, so we're not sure. I saw a paper recently… something about him filming something in Africa…"

Dustin shook his head. At least there would be a lower death rate in a known continent then some unknown island.

"I'll leave you, now" the woman nodded.

"Thank you" Dustin nodded.

Elle came back into the wheelhouse a few moments later. "Was that about the fog?"

Dustin nodded.

Elle sighed. "That just doesn't seem right"

"It could mean nothing. We may have just gotten more speed than last time" Dustin replied.

Elle smiled. "Well since you and the woman seemed to hit it off I don't have to worry about you flirting, now do I?"

Dustin chuckled. "Never" he kissed her. "It's Baxter you should worry about, my love"

Elle smiled and blushed when he pulled her against his side before looking out the window to see if anything looked familiar.

"Wait…"

Dustin looked at Elle. "What?"

"Hold on" Elle went out of the wheelhouse. "Jack! Come here!"

Jack came to her a few seconds later. "Wha-" he cut himself off when he saw what Elle had. It was the odd shaped rock jutting out of the water that was the first thing that they had seen on the way here. "We're here, but why is there just fog and no violent waves or anything?"

"It could've been a storm that came overnight" Dustin replied from inside.

Jack took in a sharp breath. "Then get ready… 'cause we're back"


	4. Just the Beginning

**A/N: Sorry for the little wait. Went to Saint Thomas for my brother's wedding and ate at some restaurant with the name "Famous Captains" and the entrée list was titled Englehorn's Entrees so I just went nuts and couldn't stop laughing for about five minutes- not even when both of my cousin whacked me upside the head, anyway, I just wanted to Share that. By the way, this fic isn't leaning in a Jurassic Park 3 direction like the beginning seems to be. If anything it's gonna seem like Dinotopia soon. And one last final question here. If any of you reading have seen the movie "Next", in the beginning at Thomas Kretschmann/Englehorn's entrance- when he bends down and pulls out the knife- if you remember, does he say "Allow me to rephrase the question" or "Let me rephrase the question". I'm gonna have Englehorn do a similar thing in here and I need that line… anyway, enjoy.**

"What the-" Jack looked around in co fusion when the group had gotten onto the shore.

"What is it?" his friends asked.

Jack looked back at them. "Guys, look around. Does this look familiar?"

They looked around. "No"

Jack nodded. "Exactly" he pulled Elle, Ann, Bruce, Dustin and Jimmy forward so no one else could hear him. "We're not where we started last time"

"What're you saying, Driscoll?" Bruce asked.

Elle stared at him. "You're kidding, right?"

"…No" Bruce said, receiving several whacks upside the head.

"I mean that we're on Skull Island but a different area of it"

"Is that good or bad?" Elle muttered.

"Something tells me we're about to find out" Dustin replied when he saw a group of people from the Dutchess emerge, lead by the black-haired man that they had first encountered.

The man frowned. "Great. All of you are here"

"Damn straight, pal" Bruce nodded.

"Bruce!" Jack elbowed him.

The man smiled. "Ah, good. There are conflicts among all of you. It makes my job easier"

"Job? What job? You just dragged us out here" Ann said.

"SHUT UP!" the man yelled, taking Ann aback.

Jack pushed past his friends. "Listen, pal. If you don't back off and shut your mouth, my fist is gonna have a conflict with your face"

"Driscoll!" Dustin hissed a warning. He turned back to the black haired man. "You wanted to do this, you lead, we follow"

"WHAT?!" his friends stared at the German in disbelief.

"Elle, knock some sense into him!" Jack pointed at Dustin.

"Shut up! If I know him, he has something up his sleeve" Elle muttered.

"Hm. Very well then. Let's go. Harper, Hawkins, Cameron, Rodriquez, Martins, Kaitlyn!" he yelled over his shoulder.

The five men and woman from before came forward.

"These are the only crewmembers you're going to bring?" Jack snorted.

The black-haired man approached him. "Yes. And what of it?"

"It's a pretty small number for a place this big"

"I doubt we'll need many compared to you" the man replied.

Jack glared at him before following the men who were probably Martins and Cameron off the boat. He looked around and froze, waiting for his friends. When they came, he stopped them. "Something's wrong"

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Could it be the act that we got dragged back here, the fact that we have six guys with guns behind us, or did you forget something on the boat?" Bruce asked sarcastically.

Jack glared at him. "None of what you said. Look around. We aren't where we started"

"What do ya mean?" Jimmy asked.

"Look around" Jack replied. "No rocks, no gate. Just tall grass and the wall"

Everyone noticed he was right.

"Well that's gonna change a few things" Jimmy muttered. "We could use a plan right about now" he added.

"Let me know when you have one" Jack muttered.

The black-haired man looked back at them. "You coming or not? Oh wait," he sneered. "You don't have a choice"

"Why you-" Bruce stepped forward.

Dustin grabbed his collar. "If it's anyone who's going to do damage, it's going to be me, Baxter. Back off. You could get hurt trying to hurt him"

Bruce glared at him before yanking free of his grip. "Fine. Let's go"

"Just act like we've been this way before. Head for the wall" Jack instructed.

"Right" Everyone nodded, heading after the crew taken from the Dutchess.

Elle noticed three of the crewmembers talking. "Jim" she whispered.

Jimmy trotted up next to her. "Yeah, Elle?"

"See if you can hear them" she nodded at the two men.

"What makes you think I can hear them from here?" Jimmy asked.

Elle raised her eyebrows at him.

Jimmy smiled. "I guess you know me too well, huh?"

"Like a brother" Elle nodded.

Jimmy stopped in his tracks, staring at her.

Elle stopped after noticing this. "What is it, Jimmy?"

Jimmy looked around. "What you just said…"

"What? I seriously look up to you like a brother" Elle nodded.

Jimmy blushed. "Yeah, about that… I- I- er-"

Before he could finish there was a rather large explosion.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Elle yelled.

"Something that none of us expected" Jack replied.

"What do ya mean, Driscoll?" Bruce asked, getting up since the explosion had actually knocked him off his feet.

"That" Jack pointed back towards the boat, which was now just a pile of rubble with smoke coming from it. Everyone figured that was where the explosion came from.

Dustin looked around quickly. The rest of the crew seemed surprised- all but the man with the black hair. He marched over to him, punched him in the face, and pinned him against a tree. It was time for some answers, and they needed them now.


	5. Chapter 5

The man laughed when Dustin slammed him against the tree. "What're you going to do? Kill me? You don't have the balls!"

"What the hell is going on?" Dustin demanded.

The man just laughed more. "You think I'm going to tell you?"

Dustin looked behind him at Bruce, looking over the man. _If only he had the prop gun. _He spotted the gun at Bruce's side. He grabbed it and brought it to the man's throat in one fluid motion. "Allow me to rephrase that question" he growled.

The man stopped laughing. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Dustin yelled.

The man laughed. "Like I'll tell you!"

Dustin sighed. Best intimidate him, now. _Just make sure the shot looks real. _He brought the gun down to an angle, lining it up with the man's shin. He pulled the trigger, trying not to go pale when he heard a gunshot come from the gun. _Shit! It's not a prop! Baxter brought a REAL gun! _

The man let out a howl of pain when he felt the bullet enter his shin, but then, once again, it was replaced by laughter. "Oh, Englehorn. Good man. I was wrong as usual. You did… you always did"

Dustin raised his eyebrow.

The man's smile grew. "You still don't remember me!"

No response.

"Figures. You never did. It was always Denham and you together. Never me"

Elle glanced between the two men. _Denham? What does he mean? I've never seen him before. _

The man continued. "You and him, always risking your neck for the other. I saved Denham once, did I get a thank you? No! But you… oh yes, you! He was always grateful to you"

Dustin stared at him. "… Grant?"

Grant laughed. "Took you long enough, Englehorn! I thought you'd recognize me on the boat!"

Dustin frowned. He had known James Grant in the War along with Gustave. He had always considered Grant a crazed lunatic, but now this whole escapade just proved it. "Why me? Why Skull Island?" 

"You got half of an answer to the first part of the question and full of the second- you got your pals here once, why not me, and the second part you should've figured out already. For old times sake, as well as revenge" Grant replied, laughing again when Dustin slammed him against the tree again.

"If it's ANYBODY who should have revenge, it's me for Gustave and I! You left us to die in mid-battle!" Dustin growled.

"And it's good I did" Grant replied.

Dustin punched him in the stomach and shoved him to the ground, turning back to Bruce and giving back the gun. "Keep this close," he ordered.

Bruce swallowed, still slightly confused- and shocked about what the German and Grant had spoken of. "Sure" he took the gun back.

"You're not gonna kill me? COWARD!" Grant screamed.

Dustin turned to him. "I'm not killing you… because I'm leaving that to the things that can put you through a far worse death here" he growled, then walked over to Ann. "Does any of this look familiar?" he asked gently.

Ann looked around. "Yes, actually"

"Can you get us to shelter? A storm's on the horizon, and if we have any hope of returning, we need rest and supplies that we may find around here"

Ann nodded. "Follow me" she led the group down a path.

Elle walked over to Dustin. "What was that about?"

"Nothing" Dustin replied, reaching for her hand and taking it in his.

Elle smiled. "You're lying. You just put the guy through hell and you're getting that look on your face"

"What look?"

"When you're covering up a lie. What's going on?"

"That man is James Grant. He fought beside your father and I in World War One. At one point, he left the battlefield, leaving us to die. It was the Battle of Amara. We never forgave him for that" he explained, and then smiled, kissing her on the cheek. "Trust me"

"I'll try" Elle smiled.

"I know you will" Dustin replied.

"Can you cut the romance, you two? This whole situation is already making me sick!" Bruce whined.

"All the more reason to do it" Jack smirked.

Bruce glared at him. "Who asked you?"

"Eh, invited myself into the conversation" Jack shrugged.

"EVERYBODY QUIET!" Ann yelled.

Everyone shut up, staring at her.

"Thank you" she sighed. "It's getting dark. We should get going"

"Yes mam"


	6. The Cave

The group had found a cave and had been walking for what seemed like hours in it. One problem. It was pitch black all around them, and if they weren't bumping into each other, they were tripping over their own feet.

Elle let out a groan. "Bruce, if that was you that just touched my ass they second we're out of here you're dead"

"It wasn't me! I'm all the way over on your left… I think… besides, you sure it wasn't your lover boy that did tha-OW! WHAT THE HECK JUST HIT MY HEAD? IT FELT LIKE A ROCK!"

"I warned you not to talk, Baxter. All you had to do was keep talking and I can destroy you"

"Englehorn?" Bruce asked.

"Exactly. Who else could throw a rock at you when it's pitch black and make it hit its target after a comment like that. Besides, it seems I'm the only smart one here. I'm going along a wall so I DON'T trip" Dustin replied.

"Hey!"

"Sorry Driscoll. Didn't hear you behind me"

"Yeah, yeah" Jack growled.

"Well Ann, congratulations. You got us all lost" Bruce said.

"Hey! Lay off!" Jack yelled.

"She was the one that made us come in here!" Bruce argued.

"Yes, and I thought it was a different cave" Ann said.

"And besides, YOU'RE the one that told us to take that right that led us here" Jimmy's voice was finally heard after a while of him being silent.

"Oh shut up. You know it was her-OW! Enough with the rocks, Englehorn!"

"If you want me to stop, shut up!"

"Fine!" Bruce muttered. There was another large thud. "Owwwwww"

"Aw, Captain. I have to admit, that was uncalled for since he just said he'd be quiet." Jimmy said.

Dustin laughed. "That wasn't me!"

"Who'd I just trip over then- OW!" Bruce yelled. "And who just stepped on me?!"

"Sorry, Bruce. That was me" Jack said.

"Help me up, then"

"I can't! I don't know where you are!"

"You just STEPPED ON me!"

"Oh, just get up, Bruce!" Elle rolled her eyes.

"Fine" Bruce got up, then everyone heard that he stopped abruptly. "I just walked into the wall…" he announced.

Elle sighed. "Someone find him and get him!" 

"Done" Jimmy nodded, going towards the opposite wall and feeling around for the actor. "Gotcha"

"I feel like a caged animal" Bruce muttered.

"Now you know how I felt on the Venture- no offense, Jimmy, Englehorn"

"Kind of hard not to have it" the two mentioned people said.

Bruce sighed. "Off the topic of the boat. Why are we HERE again, I mean, well, Englehorn they have a reason for you, well, rather he with what happened to the ship, but… he's out for you with revenge, I guess same thing with you, Ellie, since he seemed to have also hated your dad, but Jack, Ann, Jimmy… me. Why are we here?"

"Trying to get to me early- even if I wouldn't mind if they kept you, and-" there was an audible rush of air, indicating Dustin had ducked. A sound of something hitting the cave wall was heard. "You missed, Baxter" he sighed.

"How did you KNOW that?!"

"That it missed? I heard it"

"No! That it was me!"

"Baxter, it's _always _you_" _Dustin replied.

"… Good point"

"I have a few of those if you bother to think" Dustin growled.

"I think!"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh would both of you stop this now?!" Elle yelled.

Both men went silent.

"Thank you. Now, there looks like there's light up ahead" Elle pointed out.

"Good"

Everyone heard Jack run ahead slightly, then saw his shadow across their paths, showing that their was light a bit far down the path after all.

"Let's hurry up. The least we need to do is get lost here of all places" Jimmy said.

Everyone agreed before trotting up ahead until they did reach the end of the cave, where they all spread out.

"You guys okay?" Jack looked back at everyone else.

They nodded. "You?"

"I'm fine" Jack nodded.

Everyone noticed that he was looking around, a worried expression on his face.

"What? Is something wrong?" they asked.

Jack swallowed and frowned. "Where's Ann?" he demanded.

Everyone looked around. Ann was nowhere in sight.

"You've GOT to be kidding me" Elle muttered, putting her hand at the back of her head. Any time she used that phrase it reminded her of the last time they were here, before one of the natives had knocked her out. "Ann!" she yelled, going into the cave. Her voice bounced off the walls, but there was still no reply. "Oh no" she went back to the opening. "She's not here," she announced.

Jack sighed. "This can't be happening. Not again." He shook his head.

Elle sighed. "Jack, you're going to hate me for saying this, but you don't think Ann just randomly turned around and left from the direction we were going to play some type of trick on us with what happened last time, do you?"

"What? No! She wouldn't do that!" Jack shook his head.

"Like I said, It sounded like it but I wasn't implying she would" Elle nodded.

Jack looked at Dustin. "Hey, Englehorn. You think that Grant would try and grab her?"

Dustin shook his head. "He's insane enough to try, but I would've known it if he did. I know his footsteps and I heard all of yours. If he was with us at one point, I would've heard him and done something" Dustin replied.

Jack nodded. "Than we gotta find Ann" he looked around, deciding not to double back. "With this place, you never know. Let's try down here…"


	7. More Bickering and Arguing

"Ann!" Jack bolted upright from a sound sleep. He looked around. Jimmy and Dustin were looking at him, both surprised and worried for their friend. "Sorry… just had a nightmare… Kong was back… took Ann again…" he looked over at Bruce and Elle, who were sleeping. He frowned when he saw Elle stir, knowing he had probably just woken her up.

Elle groaned, shifting upright when her back came in contact with a rock. "Ugh. Dozed off" she muttered.

Jack chuckled. "Yeah, we know. Sorry I woke you"

" It's okay. Any luck with Ann?" she asked.

"No. We really haven't moved from making camp here" Dustin replied.

Elle nodded. "I feel bad that I dozed off when we were looking for her"

"I did too, but…" Jack chuckled. "As for feeling bad, that makes two of us" he nodded at Bruce, who was still sprawled on the ground, snoring away. Jack's outburst hadn't even made any impact.

Elle chuckled at the sight, but also at the fact Jimmy kept tossing pebbles at Bruce's head, trying to wake the actor up, as well as amuse himself.

"Jimmy, come on, now. Cut it out" Jack said, trying to sound serious, but his smile betray the fact that he was actually amused about it as well, then he frowned, thinking why he should be amused by this when he didn't know were Ann was.

Elle put her hand on his shoulder, somehow having an idea of what he was thinking. "Jack. Don't worry. We'll get her back. I promise"

"I'm just worried, ya know?" Jack looked at her. "We may run outta time"

Dustin chuckled. "Jack, this time we're more stuck than before. I haven't given you a time limit"

Jack laughed. "Englehorn, I appreciate it, and I know, but in this place, it had it's own deadline. The sooner we get out of here, the better"

"True" Dustin nodded.

"Wait- you just called me Jack"

"So?" Dustin asked.

"You always call me Driscoll" Jack replied.

Dustin smiled and shrugged. "Well, if we're going to be stuck here, I might as well start doing a first name basis"

Jack nodded.

"We also have to worry about that crackpot friend of yours other than finding Ann" Bruce pointed out, just waking up since Jimmy had succeeded in hitting him with a pebble.

Jimmy looked around, trying to find a means of escape before Bruce had the brains (in which Jimmy highly doubted anyway) to figure out that it was he that threw the pebble. Out of options, Jimmy threw the remaining pebbles over his shoulder and started whistling.

"We WEREN'T friends" Dustin growled, ignoring Jimmy's action. "That _bastard_ left Elle's father and I to die in mid-battle once" he explained.

"Ah, so that's why you practically threw him against that tree" Bruce nodded.

"Was it that hard to figure out?" Dustin frowned.

The two men glared at each other.

Elle sighed, slapping her forehead and leaning towards Jimmy. "Sometimes I wonder if those two would be civil if I wasn't around" she muttered.

Jimmy grinned. "Yeah, but then who would be around to do everyone else a favor and tell Mr. Baxter off?"

Elle smiled back. "Good point"

Jimmy nodded proudly until the ground shook slightly. He, Bruce and Jack looked at each other before jumping to their feet, remembering what had happened last time the ground shook when they were here.

Jack looked around. "Guys, just is case, let's get up there" he nodded up at the level of ground above them. "It may not happen again, but we should take our chances"

"About what?" Dustin asked.

"Long story. You don't wanna know" Bruce replied before finding an incline in the rock that everyone could get up easy.

When everyone got up, they looked down and saw one brachiosaurus going down the path they had been in.

"Only ONE caused that?" Bruce asked.

"Better safe then sorry. Come on" Jack started leading the way for a few feet until Dustin quickly took the lead and threw his arm out in front of Jack.

"Don't move" the German ordered.

Only hearing Dustin like this once before, when they were in the insect pit, Jack froze, as did everyone else.

Dustin leaned forward, going down on both knees and resting his arms on them to get even lower. He looked at the path in front of them at different angles. "Fool" he muttered.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Get behind those rocks" Dustin ordered, pointing at a rock formation behind them.

Everyone did, curiosity evident.

Dustin leaned forward and knelt down, looking at a spot just above the ground. He got a nearby medium-sized rock and tossed it down the path.

Everyone jumped slightly when they heard an odd click, and the next thing they knew there was a loud bang, showing that a small explosion had occurred.

"What the hell was that, Englehorn?!" Bruce yelled.

"One of Grant's trip mines. He was brilliant when it came to them, and now he's using them against us" Dustin got up.

"We don't have a good chance of leavin' here alive, do we?" Bruce asked.

"Bruce, shut up! Now's not the time to talk like that!" Elle hissed.

"When are you ever gonna stop backing up your boyfriend, huh?!" Bruce demanded.

"When you get a brain!" Elle shot back.

"I'll get a brain when I want to!" Bruce yelled, then paused, realizing how what he had just said sounded. "I mean..."

"Relax, Bruce. Forget it" Elle growled.

Bruce frowned and nodded slowly, glaring at Jimmy when the younger man couldn't take anymore and snorted since his laugh had been held in for too long. "Who asked you, kid?" Bruce demanded.

"I did" Elle replied.

Jimmy looked at Elle, smirked, crossed his arms and looked back at Bruce.

"But you didn't- UGH! I've had it with you four!" Bruce announced, crossing his own arms and glaring off to the side.

"Be lucky you're not with my brother" Elle shot back.

"If Carl was here I'd be fine!" Bruce argued.

"If Carl was here we'd all be dead!" Elle and Jack replied simultaneously.

"Oh, really? Englehorn, the other kid, what do you think?" he looked at the other two.

Silence.

"Cowards" Bruce muttered.

"We agree with the other two" Jimmy and Dustin replied.

" 'Course you do. You're both in love with the girl," Bruce argued.

"Jimmy ISN'T in love with her in the way you are, so you shouldn't talk, Baxter" Dustin shot back.

"Shut up, Englehorn! You are too, so I say the same to you" Bruce hissed.

"So much for first name basis" Jack whispered to Elle.

Elle punched his arm playfully.

Jimmy sighed. "Guys, come on. Let's not bicker and argue about who loves who now, huh? We have bigger problems, like this Grant guy"

"Thank you, Jimmy. Both of you need to grow up" Elle told the two who had been arguing nonstop.

Bruce snorted. "Haha, Englehorn. She said you need to grow up, too"

Having just about enough, Dustin brought his arm up, punching Bruce.

Bruce gripped his jaw and glared at Dustin. "Bastard!"

"Idiot" Dustin muttered.

"Would both of you be quiet?! Jimmy's right. We have bigger problems" Jack said.

"Who cares? I'm sick of this guy taking my girl!" Bruce said.

"I'm NOT your girl, for the love of God, Bruce! I've been his for three years! Get over it!" Elle yelled, then stopped, feeling the ground rumble again. "Please don't tell me those are more dinosaurs" she said.

"Hate to break the news, but it is… raptors," Jack said, looking in the distance. "A whole flock of 'em"

"WHAT?!" everyone else looked where he was. "Great!" they all said sarcastically, seeing them coming closer.

"Well, uh… I think we should move, because they're uh… they're flocking this way" he started running down another path, out of sight.

"With what happened last time, I'm with him for once" Elle pointed in the direction that Bruce had gone.

A moment later, they were all following Bruce and had dove behind a log, blocking the raptors from seeing them.

Bruce sighed when they passed, and looked at Jack. "For the record, I blame you for this" he said, then noticed Jack wasn't looking at him. He was looking straight ahead, a look of confusion on his face. When he looked around, he saw the others had the same look, also staring straight ahead. He looked where they were, and his jaw dropped at the sight in front of him. "What... the... hell?"

---

**...What's with me and cliffhangers lately??? Tee hee. Couldn't resist the Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Jurrasic Park references I threw in here. Hope the people who caught them liked them, too.**


	8. The House

"Congratulations, Mr. Baxter, you've joined the Swiss Family Robinson!" Bruce muttered to himself, because in front of the group a few feet away up in the trees was a house, made by wood and what not from the surrounding areas. It wasn't just the fact that it was there that surprised him, it was that it seemed almost flawless. The corners were smooth and even, the ladder leading up to it was fine, windows were in some of the walls, and the roof was in good shape. It looked like it had been worked on for years. "Do you see…" he began.

"Yes" everyone else said.

"Can you believe…"

"Yes" everyone nodded again.

"Can we just…"

"No!" everyone replied. "At least, not yet."

"Why not?" Bruce demanded.

"For all we know, Grant's in there" Jack replied.

"Let's find out," Dustin growled, taking Bruce's gun before walking towards the tree that led to the house.

"What's your boyfriend's problem, Elle?! Is he TRYING to possibly get killed?!" Bruce demanded.

"Shut up, Bruce! He's on edge with this whole Grant thing, and- oh my god. You called him my boyfriend. Finally!" Elle grinned.

"I- but- didn't- you- it slipped out! I didn't mean it!" Bruce replied.

"Sure you didn't. Now, excuse me, I'm going after him" Elle started walking towards the house as well, followed by Jimmy, who had jumped to his feet only a moment after Elle to back her up.

Jack looked at Bruce. "After you"

Bruce glared at him before muttering something and walking towards the house.

"Stay here" Dustin muttered, heading up the ladder. A couple of minutes later, he leaned out of one of the 'windows' of the house. "It's clear. If Grant was here, he hasn't been for a long while. Come up, this may be a decent camp"

The other four did, then looked around. The house practically fit the descriptions of the very few in the outskirts of New York City. They all went their separate ways in the house, exploring it for themselves, until they all heard Elle let out a yelp, and the four men hurried into the room she was in, seeing that it seemed to be a bedroom of sorts, and Elle was holding something.

"Ellie?" Bruce tilted his head.

"What is it?" Dustin asked.

"This is just plain creepy, or someone's idea of a sick joke" she handed him what she was holding, which turned out to be a faded picture in a frame.

Dustin could still make out what was in it, and had to guess for the real colors of the features of the people. There was a tall, brunette woman in it, smiling, holding a baby in one arm and her other arm was around the man next to her. Dustin studied the man, noticing he looked familiar, then coughed and went wide eyed, seeing the features: piercing light blue eyes, dark blonde hair, a chiseled jawline. He didn't need to look in the man's eyes to know they had that piercing stare. He saw it years ago, and any time he looked Jimmy in the eye he saw it. Why? Because he was looking at Gustave. He looked to the right and studied the brown haired boy who seemed to be somewhere in his early teens, if that old, with quite a goofy smile, and next to him, a girl with dark blonde hair and blue eyes, looking slightly older than the boy, and a lot like Gustave.

Bruce, who had come next to him and snuck a look at the picture, went wide-eyed for a moment, looking from Elle to the girl. "Elle? Is that- is that _you_?"

Elle nodded, looking away and closing her eyes. "That picture was taken a couple of months before everything fell apart in my family. I remember I hated the dress I had to wear for it," she told them.

Dustin and Bruce glanced at the picture, and the dress she was wearing. It had a huge flower on the front, and they tried hard not to smile, imagining a teen Elle complaining about it.

Elle shivered. "I'm not big on being here again, I keep finding it creepy, but this just made it worse"

Dustin wrapped his arms around her. "It's alright, we're going to get to the bottom of this."

Bruce sighed and rolled his eyes, putting down the picture on the table that was made of wood.

Jimmy glanced at the picture. So that was his family. The family he forgot he had, aside from Elle. He frowned, running his thumb across the picture.

"Jimmy…"

Jimmy turned, hearing Dustin. He looked up at him, and saw the look on his captain's face. No words were needed. He knew what Dustin wanted him to do. "Uh… Elle?"

Elle pulled away from Dustin to look at Jimmy. "Yes?"

"I've… uh… I've… got something to show you. Before you go all nuts on me, I'm gonna tell you the truth. I didn't steal this or anything. I've had it for as long as I can remember, and had no clue what it meant until you brought yours up…"

Elle's eyes narrowed, but in confusion, more than anything. "What do you mean, Jim?"

Jimmy hesitantly took the family crest out of his pocket. "I mean this" he held it up.

Elle stared at it, then Jimmy. "Jimmy… how'd you get that? I believe that you didn't steal it… but…" she took it, then examined it more, seeing the two different words that differed from hers. She looked up at him uncertainly again. "Jimmy?"

"…I'm your little brother, Elle" Jimmy shoved his hands in his pockets, not expecting the weight at the front of his body when Elle threw herself at him, hugging him, letting out a sob, but one of happiness more than any other emotion.

"I can't believe this!" Elle breathed.

"I couldn't either for a while" Jimmy replied, hugging her back.

"Jack!"

The yell got everyone's attention, but Jack was the only one to recognize it. "Ann?!" he ran over to the window of the house. "ANN!" he yelled.

"Jack!" came the reply, but it seemed to be distant.

Jack looked at everyone else. "Sorry to interrupt this little moment, but that has to be her. We gotta go find her"

"Right behind you, Jack. I'm still surprised, but happy that my brother's this one out of all of the guys he could've been" Elle nodded, putting her arm around Jimmy. Both she and Jimmy paused and chuckled a bit, remembering the first time when they had done a similar action, when they had only known each other for a few hours and were trying to convince Dustin they weren't up to trouble.

"Good. Come on, and congrats" Jack added before heading towards the ladder again.

All of them got down and starting yelling for Ann, but this time, she didn't reply.

"Where do ya think her yelling came from, Driscoll?" Bruce asked.

"To our right" Jack replied, heading in the said direction.

As they followed, Bruce looked back at the group. "If he gets us killed, I'm blaming all of you"

"Well, Bruce, then we'll be happy to know it won't last long" Elle replied with a smirk. "Now let's go"


	9. Ghosts

A/N: Alright, the last little part of the chap was kinda based off the first Mummy movie where Ardeth and Rick first fight and Ardeth shoots Rick's gun right out of his hands and Rick just kinda watches it fly backwards with his jaw down. Oh, and I have a subtitle for this fic: The Cliffhanger-Filled Sequel. Haha, enjoy the ending of the chapter.

"This is crazy! We gotta split up. We haven't heard her in ages!" Jack said as they stopped in a clearing. They had gone off and tried to go in the direction of Ann's yells, but se had stopped a half hour earlier, and they were stuck… again.

"Split up? Mr. Driscoll, it's getting dark. We should find a new camp or go back to that house" Jimmy replied.

"I'm sorry, Jack, but he's right. We may barely have an hour of daylight left" Dustin nodded.

"Then we use it!" Jack stepped forward. "Let's split up then meet back here soon"

"Feel free to tell us how to tell when 'soon' comes" Bruce rolled his eyes.

Jack glared at him. "Gladly" he looked up where the sun was briefly. "When the sun is just above the horizon, come back" Jack replied, then looked around and picked up three rocks that were on the ground. "Mark the paths you take with these, just in case."

"Alright. And the teams?" Elle asked.

Bruce rolled his eyes again. "Lemme guess, the kid and I, the lovebirds, and you all alone, Driscoll"

"Exactly" Jack nodded.

Elle scoffed. "Jack! You can't go alone! I know you want to find Ann more than all of us, but with all of the… things around here, it's not safe alone"

Jack smirked. "I can take care of myself, Elle. Thanks for the concern, though. You can as well, but you have Englehorn for backup as well, and Bruce, you can- er… depend on Jimmy for protection"

"Thanks" Bruce growled.

Jimmy snorted quietly.

Bruce heard him. "Do you have a problem, kid?!"

"No" Jimmy shrugged.

"I think you do" Bruce replied.

"Hey!" Elle stepped between them. "Now that I know Jimmy's my brother, I _know_ if you mess with him you'll have to go through me first"

"Hm" Jimmy smirked at Bruce sarcastically.

Bruce glared at him and made a face. "Driscoll, can't you take the kid? I can go on my own. I can defend myself too, ya know"

"This from the man who nearly got us all killed by attempting to shoot the raptor and ended up shooting all the feet of those… things that nearly trampled us!" Jack replied.

"Fine" Bruce muttered.

Jack nodded. "Alright. Bruce, Jimmy. Mark your paths with a triangle, alright?" he tossed them a rock.

"Yes sir" Jimmy nodded.

Jack turned to Dustin and Elle. "You two, a circle" he tossed them the second rock.

"You got it" Elle nodded, catching it.

"Mine will be marked by a square, got it?" Jack asked.

"Uh huh" the other four nodded.

"Alright. Sun meets horizon, turn back and wait here" Jack took the large branch that he had picked up earlier and drew an 'S' in the dirt. "If you guys find Ann, bring her back with you"

Everyone nodded again.

"Alright, let's move" Jack nodded.

The three 'groups' went their separate ways.

--

After a few minutes of walking, Jimmy stopped, hearing an odd snap from behind him.

"ACK!"

Jimmy sighed and turned around, hearing Bruce. The snap was a twig that had caught Bruce's foot, causing the actor to trip and fall flat on his face into the mud. "Are you alright?"

Bruce looked up and spat out the mud that had made it into his mouth. "Plech. Yeah" he took Jimmy's hand when the younger man offered it and stood up, then stopped, seeing something shine a few feet away. "Wait a minute, what the Hell is that?" he walked towards it, followed by Jimmy.

--

"This is totally insa- WHOA!" Elle yelped, not expecting the sudden drop-off of the path they were on. She quickly moved her leg to the side to try and get some balance since the drop-off was about three feet. Her foot hit the lower level of ground and she regained her balance. "Insane!" she finished.

"Welcome back to Skull Island" Dustin replied, tossing his pistol to the lower level before jumping down.

Elle shook her head. "I can't believe we're back over an old pal of yours-"

"Fellow soldier, not friend" Dustin cut in, picking the pistol up.

"-fellow soldier just wants to find something like Kong for himself" Elle continued. "I mean, what does he expect us to find? Now we don't even have a ship to bring it back on"

"I know as much as you, Elle, which means I have no clue either. He could've gotten another captain as well, and he didn't do that either, so your guess is as good as mine" he replied. He looked around, and then stopped when something caught his eye under his foot. He stepped backwards and crouched down to examine what it was. He brushed some of the dirt off the object with his hand than pulled it upward, seeing it was a tan color. He fell backwards a moment later when the object came flying out of the ground since he pulled it. "Agh" he recovered and looked back at the object that turned out to be a small portion of rope. "Elle, were any of my crew who were here last time around this area?"

"I don't know. The only person I saw that had rope was killed by that thing in the swamp, and obviously, that was nowhere near here. Could it be Grant's?"

"No. It looks too old to be Grant's. It was also in there for a while. It would have to be to be buried enough in there for me to give it a good tug then fall back" Dustin explained, looking the rope over, trying to identify anything on it. "Well, the knot on the end isn't familiar at all" he looked around more for anything else that could give him an answer. He couldn't find anything until he glanced up into one of the trees where there was another wooden platform. "This just doesn't make sense" he shook his head.

"Welcome back to Skull Island" Elle smirked.

Dustin smiled back, then noticed a small shaking in the buses behind them, but dismissed it as the wind blowing the plants. "Stay here" he ordered, going over to the tree, studying the platform. "It's bound by more of that same rope. The knots match up, and-" he froze, hearing the familiar cocking of a gun from behind him, then Elle let out a yelp.

Dustin's hand instantly went to his gun, perched in its holster on his belt.

"Don't try it. You move, the girl dies"

Dustin's arm twitched slightly, trying to remain still, but he decided to take a chance. In one fluid motion he turned around and aimed the gun squarely in the direction of the voice. However, the man didn't go through with his first threat of killing Elle, but shot the gun right out of Dustin's hand. Dustin watched it fly backwards before turning back to the man. Suddenly, blue eyes met another set of blue eyes, but the others were cold but familiar. His jaw suddenly dropped as he recognized the man, not believing his eyes, because the man who currently had his arm around Elle's neck, trapping her, was supposed to be long dead. Dustin barely managed the next thing out of his mouth. "GUSTAVE?!"


	10. Reunion

Dustin couldn't believe his eyes. Gustave Denham was standing in front of him, oblivious to the fact that his arm was around his daughter's neck, and now the older man's gun was trained on him.

"What did you just call him?" Elle shrieked. She wanted to try and see who was holding her, but the way he had her neck made it impossible for her to move.

"Shut up." Gustave growled to her, then looked back at Dustin. "You, hands up. How do you know me?" Gustave asked.

Dustin hesitantly put his hands up. "Gustave, let her go. Calm down"

"I asked you a damned question!" Gustave yelled. "How do you know me? If you know me through Grant and you're working with him, I might as well kill you now. Are you?"

Dustin exhaled sharply. " If you're against Grant, he's a common enemy for the both of us… a second time around, now"

Gustave narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean? Who are you?"

"An old friend" Dustin replied. "If I give you my name, you may think I've come up with the name through Grant's memories" Dustin knew he wasn't making any sense, but that was just the kind of thing Gustave was known for. Making sense of something confusing.

"Go on" Gustave said slowly.

Dustin looked him directly in the eye. "You and I went through Hell and back together, Gustave. Grant left us to die in mid-battle, once. We got back and told us that it was 'every man for himself out there'. We ignored him, after that. You and I spoke about love when I was sixteen. I didn't want to experience it then. You always mentioned your daughter to me and always said you wish that she and I could meet, and that we'd make quite a pair" Dustin replied.

Gustave lowered his gun. "Englehorn?"

Dustin nodded.

Gustave let go of Elle. "Then who the Hell's this?"

Dustin walked forward and put his hand on Elle's shoulder. "Let's just say that your wish came true"

Gustave stared at Elle. "Ellie?"

Elle swallowed hard and turned to him, then went wide-eyed. It was her father, alright.

Gustave grinned. "Ellie!" he pulled her into a hug, but Elle didn't return it. Gustave pulled away, a grin still plastered on his face. "You've grown so much…"

Elle was still silent, just staring at him.

Gustave tilted his head. "What's wrong?"

"You're… you're supposed to be dead!" Elle breathed.

"What? Well, obviously I'm not" Gustave replied. "Where'd you get that story from?"

"The crew of the ship you were on before you were… lost at sea… they said there wasn't a chance you survived…"

"The storm?" Gustave asked.

Elle nodded slowly.

Her father scoffed. "Must've come up with a fake story to cover up the fact that I fell overboard with James... I lost the poor kid a couple of years later…"

Elle paused. "James?" she exchanged confused glances with Dustin, until they both realized something. _James…Jimmy. _ "Jimmy?!" she breathed.

Gustave nodded. "Of course. Your little brother"

"Oh my god. Oh my god… oh my god…" she turned around.

Dustin also started putting the pieces together before. "We must've been close to the island when we first picked him up…" he murmured.

"Huh?" Gustave looked at him.

"We picked up her little brother… your son, about four years ago. Found him by the cages in my ship… he must've found a way on the ship when it was docked… if he was here, no wonder he was as wild as he was then…"

"Care to explain?" Gustave asked.

"Jimmy's here too" Elle replied weakly.

"Wait a minute. You're saying I lost the kid during a storm, he washed up on your ship, then Ellie comes along… how does that fit? Talk about fate. You guys have been here before?"

"It's a long story, and yes, we have, now, if you'll excuse me-" Elle grabbed Dustin's hand and dragged him a few feet away. "What the hell is going on?! Why is my father standing a few feet away, and very much alive, and-"

Dustin laughed, cutting her off.

"What?!" Elle demanded.

"You're asking me like I have all the answers, I'm sorry, but I don't" Dustin replied gently.

Elle clenched her jaw. "…UGH! I just can't believe this! Nothing makes any sense anymore, and- what is it now?!" she asked, seeing Dustin stare at something behind them.

"Elle, move!"

The warning came a moment too late when she felt something hard collide with her back.

"OW! MR. BAXTER! WHY'D YOU DO THAT?!"

It turned out to be Jimmy and Bruce who had fallen into the area somehow.

Bruce got up from the ground. "Shut up, kid. We just hit that slippery slope there, and…" he turned and came about an inch away from Dustin. "EEK!" he jumped back, not expecting the man to be right there. "And got back to your sister and her lover boy"

"HEY! FREEZE!" Gustave instantly had his gun up, pointed at Jimmy and Bruce.

"No, no, no! They're with us!" Elle said, going in front of them.

"Englehorn?" Gustave raised an eyebrow at the German.

"They are" Dustin nodded. He pointed to Bruce. "Bruce Baxter…" he pointed to Jimmy. "And your son, Jimmy"

"What?!" Jimmy looked at Gustave.

"My thoughts exactly" Elle helped the boy up.

"You're saying he's our father?" Jimmy pointed at Gustave.

Bruce looked between the three, still confused, but then did see similarities between the three of them. "Looks like it" he walked next to Dustin.

"I heard you were dead!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"As far as I'm concerned, I was. There was a storm. Aparently this one-" Gustave nodded at Jimmy. "- And I went overboard. I knew it was a mistake to bring a kid onboard, but then Gloria..." he drifted off, then started his story again. " None of the crew liked me. They probably came up with the stupid story I was killed by some guy when we were on land, when I just washed up here…"

" Killed by a German, to be exact. That's why I learned to hate them except for this one" Elle nodded at Dustin. "Sounds like I have to straighten out a few things…"

"Wait- I was _here_?" Jimmy asked.

"If you're my son, yes" Gustave nodded. He pulled something silver out of his pocket, then showed it to them.

Elle and Jimmy let in a short breath, seeing it was the crest attached to a chain.

"You have one of these, you sure as Hell are"

"We do" Elle and Jimmy nodded, taking out and showing their own.

"Oh, cute, family reunion" Bruce rolled his eyes.

Dustin slammed his foot down hard on the actor's to shut him up. Needless to say, it worked. Bruce's yes even started tearing. Dustin looked back at Gustave. "So, er- if you've been here for a while, we've lost someone. I woman. We have another man with us looking for her"

"A good looking, thin blonde?" Gustave asked.

"Ann!" everyone grinned.

"So you've seen Miss. Darrow?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah, kid" Gustave asked.

"Can you tell us where you saw her last?" Bruce asked.

Gustave laughed. "I can do better than that. I can take you to her. She seemed like a trustworthy gal, so I let her stay at another one of our camps. First time I saw her, I scared her half to death…"

"When she screamed…" Dustin murmured.

"Alright, well, if you wanna see her, follow me" Gustave turned and started heading down a path.

Bruce went to follow, but Dustin took his shoulder and pulled him back so the four could talk. "I don't like this. Can we trust him? It is your father, Elle, Jimmy. I trusted him once before, but now with Grant… I just don't know"

Bruce frowned. "For once, I'd agree with you, but what other choice to do we have?"

Dustin glanced at the actor. Whether he liked it or not, Bruce was right.

Elle sighed. "I still can't believe that's him, but… get your gun. You have a point. We'll have to trust him for now…"

"Alright, let's go" Bruce nodded.


	11. Family Ties

"ENGLEHORN

"ENGLEHORN!"

Dustin jumped in alarm when they arrived at the cave Gustave had brought them too, and someone had launched themselves at him before kissing both of his cheeks. When they pulled away, it only took a moment for him to realize who it was. "Ann!"

Ann grinned. "Sorry. I got a bit carried away. Happy to see a familiar face"

Bruce walked next to Dustin. "Ah, Ann. Better not do that in front of his girl. Ellie may kill ya"

"Bruce" Ann sighed. "Surprisingly, I've never been happier to see either of you- all four of you!" Ann's grin was back when she saw Jimmy and Elle, then frowned when she saw that both of them were frowning. "What is it? … Oh my god. Where's Jack?"

"He should be fine, Ann." Dustin waved his hand. We went separate ways looking for you, and then we ran into him" he pointed at Gustave. "Apparently he brought you here after figuring you weren't with Grant. This is-"

"Gustave Denham. I know He told me. He brought me here for my safety. I thought…" she looked at Jimmy and Elle.

Dustin nodded. "We're still not sure…"

"I'm still here, ya know" Gustave spoke up from putting his gun in the corner of the cave. "I assure you, that's my Ellie, and that's my James" he looked at the two said people.

"Oh, now you're proud, saying that we're your children?" Elle demanded.

"Huh?" Gustave looked at her. "Ellie, I've always been proud that I'm your father. I did everything for you and the boy when I could"

Elle looked at him. "Oh, did everything? I was sixteen when I heard the last of you, which was that you got killed. If you were proud of being our father, before you got on the ship with Jimmy, you could've at least made contact with my mother, Carl and I and tell us you were actually alive! If you couldn't even do that, what kind of father are you?!"

"Elle…" Dustin murmured, reaching out for her arm.

"No" she muttered, pulling away from him. "Congratulations. Now I believe that you're my father. I just didn't know that I'd be ashamed of ever seeing you again. You and the others can talk, I'm going outside to think things through, even if I just got in here. Ann, I'm happy to see you're alright." Elle started for the cave's mouth and Dustin went to follow. "Alone" she added before going the rest of the way.

Dustin sighed and stopped before turning around and returning to the rest of the group.

"Wow, she's grown moody" Gustave chuckled.

"Grown moody?" Jimmy raised his eyebrows. "I just found out recently that she was my sister, and we're still so close that I see exactly where she's coming from, and she's right. I don't care if she wanted to be alone. I wanna be the family member who's there for her," he walked out of the cave to go to Elle.

Bruce went to follow, but Dustin held him back. "No. Let Jimmy go. He's right. It's better him there for her than us."

Bruce frowned, then nodded and backed up to lean against the cave.

Dustin looked back at Gustave. "When did you find this place?"

"A couple of years ago," Gustave said. "I went looking for more supplies to build the house-"

"Wait, you mean the one a couple of miles or less that way?" Bruce pointed to the right.

"Yeah. You've been there?" Gustave asked.

"Elle found the family photo. Nearly had a breakdown over it," Bruce replied, saying the last part with a more bitter tone. "Your old war pal here wasn't happy seeing her like that" he looked at Dustin.

"Is that a fact?" Gustave looked at Dustin as well.

Dustin closed his eyes. "My feelings towards her well-being don't matter _right now_. What does is that you're obviously alive, you've survived this whole time, so you know the area better. We still have Grant to worry about. That reminds me. You knew Grant was here. How?"

"Easy. I saw him from here. I think he saw me. Heard him muttering about a ghost when I got closer to see if it was really him" Gustave replied.

"So he's been through this area?" Dustin asked.

Gustave nodded. "This place has a better view to see who's coming or not, but it's never good for staying the night. If you want to camp, we better head back to the house"

"Not the house quite yet. The clearing. We agreed we'd meet back there by sunset, and it's getting close. We go there first," Dustin ordered.

"Meet with who?" Gustave asked.

"The man we mentioned, Jack" Dustin replied, then pointed at Ann. "Her husband"

Ann nodded.

"The guy's probably given up looking. He's probably wandered off" Gustave replied.

"That would be Grant's way of thinking. Not Jack's" Dustin growled. He didn't know why, but he was also getting annoyed with Gustave already. He, like Jimmy and Elle, was surprised to see the man was even alive, but it was like he was a totally different person. _I guess that's what being here does to people. _"We're going back to find Jack. If it was one of us separated from the group, I'm sure he'd make us do the same"

"Fine. You armed?" Gustave asked.

"Running out of ammo and wasted a bullet thanks to you, but this thing can pack a punch of its own when it's rammed into someone's head" Dustin replied

Gustave smile. "Really? I'd love to see that in action"

Bruce quickly ducked. "You're not usin' me as a target"

Dustin snorted. "I wasn't going to show him anyway, idiot. Get up"

Bruce slowly obeyed. "You never know with you"

Dustin rolled his eyes before looking out at the mouth at the cave. "We should get going now. It's almost sunset now"

Ann nodded. "I'm in" she went next to him.

"Well, what other choice do I have, then?" Bruce went over to them, then turned back to Gustave. "Hey Gus, you comin'?"

"Oh, a nickname already? I must rate" Gustave smiled.

Dustin raised his eyebrows. "I have one and he hates me, so you may be wrong there"

Gustave looked at him. "After all these years you STILL don't see a bright side to anything"

Dustin shook his head. "Gustave, last time I was here, I lost three of my best friends from my ship, and a good amount of my crew. There were several times I thought I would lose your daughter as well, starting when the natives knocked her out and neither Baxter or I could wake her up for a while until Kong came along and killed more of my crew thanks to your elder son's stupidity. He wanted Kong for a show to make money. My crew meant nothing to him."

"Kong?" Gustave asked.

"The giant ape that used to be here" Ann replied, then frowned and looked down.

Dustin put his hand on her shoulder.

She looked back up at him.

"Worry about him later. Let's find your husband first" he said gently.

Ann smiled. "Alright, let's go"


	12. Shut Up

Bruce Baxter wasn't very happy at the moment

Bruce Baxter wasn't very happy at the moment. He felt he was the odd man out… again. They had found Jack a couple of hours earlier and had returned to the house, where everyone had gone their separate ways as much as possible, doing their own thing. Ann and Jack were talking quietly in one corner of the room they were all in, Jimmy was in his own corner, reading. Every so often the young man looked up and smiled at the sight in the opposite corner from where he was. The sight was probably what had Bruce worked up the most. After quite a while of not sleeping, Elle had given in and let herself sleep, and she was in the corner doing just that, cuddled against Dustin's side with her head on his chest, and he was also sleeping, his left arm around her shoulders. Bruce gagged, but then noticed Dustin was still holding his gun in his other hand, with his pointer finger on the trigger.

Bruce scoffed. "Even sleeping the guy's ready for anything. Moron" he growled.

"What was that, son?" Gustave asked. He was on the same wall Bruce was, just a couple of feet away.

"Your daughter and your probable future son-in-law." Bruce spat.

Gustave looked at them. "What? You have a problem with them sleeping like that and they're not married? Sorry, sir, but propriety is a thing of the past here"

Bruce shook his head. "I could care less about them sleeping. I'm annoyed about _them_. I saw your daughter first! She was _mine_ since we were _kids_! I had dibs on 'er, then he just _had_ to be the captain of the ship your son had to get to a filming spot. She just HAD to fall for _him_!" Bruce complained, then paused. "And I even had a chance to get her, but she sealed the deal with _him_ just moments after I could've! I helped them become a couple! UGH!" He motioned at Dustin. "I mean, what does he have that I don't?"

"A brain" Gustave muttered.

Jimmy snorted subtly.

"Huh?" Bruce looked at him.

"Nothing… uh… a ship?" Gustave quickly suggested.

"No, I know Ellie doesn't care about property." Bruce shook his head. "I mean, maybe she goes for guys who aren't famous,"

"Or don't have giant egos" Gustave added.

"I heard you that time!" Bruce pointed at him. "And let me tell you something. I'm proud of my ego, got it?! I wouldn't be where I am today without it!" Bruce argued.

"See son, there's your problem. Egos can be good or bad, or both. Yours is all bad" Gustave told him. "And that's probably what turned Ellie off from you."

"And why does she not mind when you call her 'Ellie', but hates it when I do?!" Bruce demanded, ignoring the last part.

"Look, if this whole conversation is against her, I'm gonna stop trying to help you out" Gustave growled.

"Wait, helping me? Are you saying you'd be on my side as opposed to Englemoron's?" Bruce asked.

Gustave smirked. "Ah, there's his nickname. And I didn't say that. I said help you out. I wouldn't sell Englehorn out if my life depended on it. He's been through far too much with me"

Bruce scoffed then turned around. "Hey, who here actually likes Englehorn and Elle together?!"

Jack, Ann, and Jimmy all raised a hand simultaneously and continued with what they were doing. Bruce paused. "The kid doesn't count. He's crazy about that couple. He wouldn't help me at all,"

"Got that right" Jimmy nodded.

Bruce shook his head and narrowed his eyes. "Kid, do you ever shut up?"

"Do you ever stop being arrogant?" Jimmy shot back.

Bruce made a face at him. Jimmy mimicked the face and then continued reading.

"Where'd you get that?" Bruce asked.

"The ship that got us here" Jimmy replied. "You know me"

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately"

Jimmy rolled his eyes before looking back at the book.

Gustave looked back at Bruce. "Now listen, son. I could've sworn you said you knew Elle when you were kids…"

"We didn't. I got carried away there_. _I rant a lot when I'm angry, and most of the time I lie through my teeth and don't even notice until someone likes you points it out," Bruce explained. "It was a figure of speech. I never knew her when we were kids. I got into showbiz as a kid. Didn't know your kids until much later,"

Jimmy snorted again.

Bruce turned and glared at him. "Honestly kid, do you shut up at all? Is the term even in your vocabulary?"

"Yeah, I 'shut up' for people who I like. In other words, I won't shut up if you ask me to," Jimmy explained.

"Thanks for clearing that up," Bruce growled sarcastically.

"And I'm twenty-one. I'm not a kid any more," Jimmy replied.

"Good, you can count. I'm impressed," Bruce smirked.

Jimmy glared at him and continued to read, figuring there was no use fighting.

"And look at that, he can't even defend himself!" Bruce argued. "I mean, sure, he can make an argument, but can he def-WHOA!" he ducked, not expecting to have a rock come flying at his head. "What the Hell?!" he demanded.

"I believe it's _you_ who needs to learn to shut up, Baxter," came Dustin's voice. He opened one eye and shifted so he could move without waking Elle up, then stood up and started pacing, not breaking eye contact with Bruce. "First of all, she chose me over you three years ago. It's time you move on. Find another girl to annoy. Second, leave Jimmy out of this. He's just voicing his opinion. Have a problem, there are other rocks in the corner here, and this time, I won't miss,"

Bruce looked up and saw that the somewhat large rock had actually made a very small crack in the wall. He gulped. "Fine! Whatever!" he also got up. "But I swear to God, mess with her, and-" he pressed his lips together when Dustin took two steps towards him. "… I'll… stand my ground," Bruce replied, grinning innocently. "Heh heh"

Dustin smirked. "Actually, I would've preferred your first reply, where you'd threaten me,"

Bruce twitched. "You would?"

Dustin nodded. "If I ever do anything to harm her in any way, I care about her enough that I'd want you to cause harm to me… or get someone to cause harm since I have a feeling you could barely harm me at all," he smirked.

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Go back to Germany," he turned around. "I'm getting some sleep here," he lay back down and turned to the corner between the wall and floor since there was barely any light visible in the area.

Jimmy grinned. "Thanks, Captain! You finally got him to shut up!"

Dustin nodded. "My pleasure,"

Bruce instantly sat up and Elle woke up with a start when everyone heard gunfire, a masculine scream, then a roar. They would've dismissed their curiosity and calmed down, figuring it was one of Grant's men or Grant himself and he had come in contact with a dinosaur or another strange creature of the island, but there was something different that set this roar apart from all the others that they had heard when they were on the island this time around. It was booming and deep. It was eerily familiar. It was identical to Kong's.


	13. Can't Catch a Break

What had made the next few moments more annoying than it already was other than the fact that the Kong-like roar had ceased was that the group had literally walked into T-Rex territory, and for some reason, the T-Rexes were traveling in groups this time, compared to being alone and fighting with each other, which made their situation worse. Since there was a dead body of an iguanodon in the middle of the area, they all knew they weren't getting out of the area as soon as they had liked, so they had all broken into small groups. To Dustin's horror, he was stuck with Bruce behind a rock, then Elle and Gustave were paired up behind a tree, then Jack, Jimmy and Ann made the last group behind another tree a few feet away from the first.

Bruce looked at Dustin and broke the few minutes of silence they were having. "So seriously, Englehorn, what are your plans for you and Elle?"

Dustin rolled his eyes. He had REALLY been enjoying the silence because there were no idiotic questions being asked like the one that had just been voiced. "Jimmy's right. Do you _ever_ shut up?" he demanded. "Contrary to popular belief- oh wait, it's just _yours_, I read and research things that aren't just about sailing. These things only see movement, so if you shut up and stop squirming, we may have a better chance of getting out of here!" he hissed.

"…You just talked longer than I have this whole time," Bruce argued.

Dustin clenched his jaw, tempted to draw his gun, point it at Bruce, and ask how THAT was for movement, and if the T-Rexes somehow saw them, it would still be worth it. After realizing it wouldn't _really_ be worth it, he replied. "Just shut up, you fool!"

A few feet away, Gustave and Elle were behind a tree.

Gustave glanced at his daughter. "… They REALLY hate each other, don't they?"

Elle snorted. "You have no idea- OW!" something small hit the back of her head. She turned towards the direction it seemed to come from, and there was Jimmy, Jack, and Ann, also behind a tree. Jimmy made a face that one could not imagine it meaning anything other than an apology. Jack pointed into the clearing, showing that the T-Rexes were already moving on. Elle mouthed 'one minute'. The other three nodded.

"That's it! Baxter, if you keep talking and these things find us, I'm shooting you in the foot and running in the other direction!" Dustin hissed.

Elle rolled her eyes. "Guys, shut up!" she hissed.

Bruce looked at her. "He started it," he replied, which earned him a hard whack to the shoulder blades from Dustin. "Oow, moron!"

The group waited a few minutes after the T-Rexes had left before they got out of hiding and got back together. They walked along a path in silence for a while until Jack decided to finally break it. "Next time _the strongest guy with us_ tells you to shut up, I strongly suggest you listen, Bruce," he said matter-of-factly since Bruce was still moving his arms back and forth, trying to rid himself of the pain.

"Glad to know SOMEONE respects what I say," Dustin growled.

Jimmy, Elle, Gustave and Ann all gaped at him.

Dustin paused. "Okay, glad to know five of you respect what I say,"

The other three nodded, satisfied.

"Oh, this is so sweet, I could cry," Bruce said sarcastically.

Dustin ignored him, then stopped, seeing something. "We've been here before," he murmured.

Everyone from the first trip to Skull Island looked around. How on Earth would he know? He and Bruce had just come to their rescue by the spider pit.

Little did they know, that after Bruce had convinced Dustin to come back for them, he had taken him down the gorge that the others had found the footprint on, and Dustin remembered it. However, what surprised him was that he was staring at that same footprint, and somehow it hadn't even been disturbed by any other creature here.

"Do you believe this shit?" Dustin asked, poking around it carefully. "We hear what can only be another one of these things, then it just stops?"

"What if it knew we were coming, Captain?" Jimmy suggested.

Dustin looked back up at him. "I think you've seen too many of those new monster movies, Jim,"

Gustave shook his head. "He may just have a point, Englehorn. What if it is?"

Bruce shook his head. "No. Ann, don't take offense to this, but when we dealt with Kong, he was stupid enough to charge in and attack at any given moment. How could another one be smart enough to stay quiet? I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Englehorn,"

Dustin cocked an eyebrow and brought the back of his hand lightly to the actor's forehead. "… No fever… Baxter, are you drunk somehow?"

"I'm perfectly fine. Now get the hell offa me!" Bruce snapped.

"You're back to normal. Good," Dustin let his hand drop.

Bruce got up and started walking. "Oh shut up already! You're not getting anywhere by proving that I hate you, because that already been established. I mean come- AH!"

Everyone else jumped when in the next moment, Bruce flew up into the air upside down, then bounced a couple of times, then started swinging back and forth. When he slowed down, the group saw that a rope was holding Bruce up, and it was looped around one of his legs. He had landed himself, so to speak, in a booby-trap.

"ACK! GUYS, GET ME DOWN! DENHAM, THIS BETTER BE ONE OF YOURS!" he yelled.

"It is. Sorry, Bruce. Forgot about that one," he glanced at everyone when they just stared at him. "…Gotta find food somehow," he explained. "Though we can't quite eat your friend, can we?"

"Is there some other trap we can get him in?" Dustin asked.

"Shut it, Englehorn!" Bruce pointed at the German as best he could.

"Would you really wanna do that to him?" Gustave chuckled.

"YES!" Jimmy, Dustin and Elle nodded, raising their eyebrows in the process.

Gustave sighed. "Sorry, kids," he looked around. "Now if only I could find that lever that gets him down…"

"Allow me, if you don't mind losing one of these," Dustin drew his gun.

Bruce went pale. "Oh Christ! NO! _**DO NOT**_ LET HIM DO THIS! ELLIE, STOP HIM! FIND THE LEVER! FIND THE LEVER!"

Dustin rolled his eyes. "Baxter, I'm not gonna shoot you, I'm gonna shoot the rope," he set up a shot at the rope a couple of feet above Bruce's leg.

"OH, LIKE I REALLY HAVE FAITH IN YOUR SHOT, HERE?! REMEMBER ME, BRUCE BAXTER?! THE GUY YOU HATE BECAUSE HE WON'T LEAVE YOUR GIRL ALONE?! YOU HATE ME! THE CHANCE AT SHOOTING ME MAY BE TOO TEMPTING!"

Dustin rolled his eyes and lowered his arm before taking the shot, making it a matter of inches less than a foot away from Bruce's leg.

Bruce let out a yelp when he hit the ground hard. "WHAT DO YOU CALL THAT, THEN?!" Bruce demanded.

Dustin smirked, kneeling next to him. "You know, if you hadn't yelled that last bit about me being tempted to shoot you, I would've shot further above your leg. With more rope, it would've given you more time to turn and lessen the blow on your back compared to shoulder blades," he patted Bruce's shoulder. "Keep that in mind next time I'm your only chance at not getting hurt, hm?" he winked and pulled Bruce to his feet.

"Bastard," Bruce muttered.

"Can we PLEASE stop arguing?" Ann demanded. "We heard something that sounded like Kong, and we set off to find what it was. Is it possible to avoid any other problems?" Ann demanded, staring both men down. She didn't want to admit it, but like everyone else, she preferred Dustin over Bruce any day, but she felt when they were on the island, all of that had to be put aside. "Just… act like gentleman for once,"

Bruce snorted. "Well, Ann, ya see, I can do that. Englemoron on the other hand could probably give Kong a run for his money,"

"Hey, hey, HEY!" Jack objected when Dustin went to lunge at Bruce. He pulled the two men apart. "Ann's right. You can focus on insulting and trying to beat the crap out of each other later, after this. This isn't the time. Now, I heard it further that way," Jack pointed towards a few trees. "You coming?" he started walking towards them.

Jimmy looked from his other friends to Jack, sighed, then followed the writer. It was a good move for them, but not the others, because a moment later, there was a crash, and the next thing Ann knew, Dustin had tackled her to the ground so she would avoid something.

When Ann recovered, she looked up and went wide-eyed.

Noticing this and remembering where it got them last time, Dustin clamped his hand over her mouth, because some dinosaur carcass had landed a few feet in front of them where Ann had been moments before, but that wasn't got everyone spooked. It was the fact that a T-Rex was slowly walking towards the carcass. It hadn't seen them yet, so he slowly got up, pulling Ann to her feet and slowly released her mouth. "Nobody… move… a muscle," he ordered slowly. He turned slowly a moment later, seeing that no one had obeyed and were now running in the other direction. "SHIT!" he ran after them. He skidded to a halt when he noticed all of them had stopped behind a few rock formations. "Are you TRYING to get killed?" he demanded.

"No, that would be my job… I mean killing you, of course,"

Dustin clenched his jaw when he recognized Grant's voice, and a moment later, Grant and his team emerged from the other side of the area they were in. They just couldn't catch a break. "Grant…" he snarled.

"Englehorn," Grant nodded, then sneered, seeing Gustave. "Ah, and the elder of the Denham generation. I knew I wasn't seeing things. I have to admit, Englehorn, you won him over pretty quick. I trust it was you, or was it your girl?" he shook his head. "No matter, both of you are going to get what you deserve,"

"And what would that be, Grant?" Gustave demanded.

Grant laughed. "You haven't changed, old man. I'm impressed… and your deaths, of course,"

**A/N: Ha, another Jurassic Park rip-off scene with the "nobody move a muscle" thing. I couldn't resist, yet again. Heh, it kinda fits since one of the characters are Grant, even if he's evil. Anyways, the line about shooting Bruce in the foot and running the other direction is based off a story my uncle-in-law told me about him and a buddy who were hunting. His friend was going to shoot a bear, and my uncle told him if all he did was wound it and it came after them, he would shoot his friend in the foot and run the other direction. "The bear can get YOU first!"  
Oh, one more thing. As far as appearances go, as far as OC appearances go, I kinda consider as Gustave, and Jason Isaac as Grant… Elle, however, I still can't really say. I'm on the fence with her possibly being Jennifer Garner, I'm gonna keep looking, but at least you have those two guys. After changing the title of the prequel to this fic and changing around a few things in the fic itself, I figured I at least deserved to put some names to faces. Anyways, please review!! I had funny parts, that reference, and now ANOTHER cliffhanger ending. Drop me a line with what you think of it all… wow, this was a long A/N… I'll shut up now.**


	14. A Past Revealed

**A/N: Well, now that I'm just about ready to throw my computer out the window because I'm stuck on one part of the King Kong PC game, I figured make the new chap here instead before I do so. Ugh… stupid giant bats and Kong controls…**

**Okay, moving on. Hope you enjoy.**

--

"I have to admit, all of you were pretty hard to find. I'll give you that much," Grant chuckled as he crossed his arms over his chest, admiring his men's work. His men had tied all seven of them up around a large dead tree stump in a sitting down position. Grant smirked at Dustin. "What about you? Any thoughts that I've outsmarted your little group here?"

Dustin smirked. "Yes, actually: You're an ass," It was safe to say that he wasn't surprised when Grant punched him square in the jaw. What everyone else didn't see coming, however, was that Dustin laughed after Grant punched him. It was the same laugh that he used when Carl had told him he had planned to trap Kong on their first 'trip' to the island.

"Anything else?" Grant snarled.

Dustin smirked. "Suck my-" another blow was delivered to the other side of his jaw. He laughed again, encouraged when he saw Grant's scowl. "You see, _Errol_, you never DID plan much. Now you have us, what're you gonna do? Go try and find some creature like Kong? You won't last ten minutes since you've never been here. I see you've lost about six men from the last time I saw you. What got to them? Raptors? Bats? Bugs?" he shook his head. "How do you really think this is gonna end?" He glared at the man opposite him.

Grant also smirked. "Well, better than it's going to end for you, I assure you,"

Dustin tried to mask the grunt of pain that he released when Grant kicked him in the stomach, but failed. "Bastard," he coughed, then ended up spitting out blood. He bent over, panting.

"Wouldn't that be you, Englehorn? I swear I could remember you telling Denham here that your mother and father weren't married, then your mother had you and then gave you away to some sailor because of the shameful looks and comments about her that she heard-" he jumped back when Dustin went to kick him hard in the shins. "You may want to keep that anger in check if you want to start a family with the girl here, eh?" he motioned at Elle. "Then hopefully your son or daughter won't end up like you did when you literally knocked into your mother on the street fifteen years after she left you alone. How was that, Englehorn? Knocking into someone and just knowing that she was your mother by looking at her?" he chuckled yet again at the brief look of confusion that crossed Dustin's hateful glare. "Oh yes, I tracked down your mother and she told me that story. You know, you'd be surprised that Englehorn isn't a very common name back in New York… it wasn't that hard to convince her that you and I were still friends. Quite gullible… she's a fool, really,"

"Well then, she and you have something in common," Dustin snarled.

Grant smiled, smacked Dustin's cheek lightly, then stood back up. "You'll regret this conversation soon. I promise you that," he walked away from them and muttered an order to a few of his men.

The ones he had given the order to looked back at the group and sneered.

After a while of silence, Gustave started to worry about his old friend since Dustin had just been staring ahead at another tree after Grant had left, and had seemed to tense up. He had barely even moved. " 'Scuse me, ma'am," he murmured since Ann was between him and Dustin. When Ann nodded and leaned forward, letting Gustave reach over and poke his friend since their arms were slightly free. "Hey, Englehorn, you okay?". No response. "…Englehorn?" still none. Not even a movement to acknowledge that Dustin had heard him. He knew Grant had actually told them the truth, because Dustin had told him the story years before. He was very sensitive about talking about his blood family except for his brother. Gustave had only gotten the story out of Dustin when he had been shot and he had ordered that the German told him about them because 'it just may be the last story he would ever hear'. Of course, not wanting to disappoint an injured friend, Dustin told him his story with a lot of pain in his eyes. Gustave smiled weakly and patted Dustin's shoulder. "Hang in there," he muttered.

Elle sighed and put her head on Dustin's shoulder since she was on his other side, hearing but not seeing her father's action. She was happy to find that it did seem to comfort him slightly since he seemed to relax. While Dustin was on her left and Bruce was on her right, she was downright uncomfortable, but she was also happy to notice Bruce didn't vocalize any comments about them, seeming to keep quiet for Dustin's sake, which was a giant leap in a positive direction. She poked his side and smiled at him weakly then moved her eyes in Dustin's direction, then mouthed 'thanks'.

Bruce nodded.

Ann shook her head. "And you two had to deal with this guy in war times? You two are more admirable then I thought,"

"Not admirable, just insane because we didn't shoot him when we had the chance," Dustin growled.

"Amen to that," Gustave nodded. "Bastard had it coming, too. Always running off…"

"Leaving us to die," Dustin added.

"Leading us somewhere then we got shot and he didn't," Gustave deadpanned.

Dustin snorted. "Now I'm starting to think he did that on purpose,"

Gustave grinned. "Hey, Dusty's back!"

Dustin stared at him.

Gustave pointed at Elle. "Sorry. Got it from her,"

Now the stare turned towards the said woman, who only grinned innocently. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "So Jack, you always have a plan. How are we going to get out of here?"

"Me? I thought you kinda became our leader this time! _You_ tell _me_!" Jack replied from Gustave's left. "Why am I always the one that knows what to do?!"

"You're a writer?" Elle suggested.

"I'm pretending to glare at you, just so you know, Elle," Jack announced.

"Good for you. Is there anything sharp around here?" Elle asked, looking around.

"What're we gonna do after we're out. It's seven against… God knows how many. We wouldn't last!" Jack pointed out.

"At least I came up with something!" Elle snapped.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Bruce hissed, seeing two of Grant's men coming towards them.

The shorter of the two just glared at him and they glared back. The taller just smirked and adjusted his hat to it came further down on his head.

Bruce watched them leave before looking around. "Okay, I'm back to being open to ideas of getting' the hell outta here. Englehorn, come on. Jack was the leader before, now a blind guy could see you've become the leader. Where's that wit that you use against me, huh? We could use it now,"

"Oh, just because I've become a leader I know what we're supposed to do?! You weren't a leader and you convinced me to turn back for these people. Let's hear YOUR brilliant idea," Dustin growled, glaring at the actor. He was in no mood to put up with Bruce at the moment.

"Guys, Ann's right. This isn't the time to argue," Elle muttered.

"She's right. We need to work together for this one," Gustave nodded and shifted slightly.

Ann froze. "Wait, Mr. Denham, do that again,"

Gustave looked at him. "It's Gustave, Miss. Darrow, and what? Repeat what I just said?"

"No, move the way you just did," Ann replied.

Gustave paused. "Like this?" he moved his shoulder forward and shifted his bodyweight forward as well.

"Yes, that," Ann nodded. She squirmed for a while, then smiled victoriously.

Jack noticed the smile. "What is it, Ann?"

Ann smiled at him and moved her arm a bit until it came up from behind her. She waved at him. "I'm out,"

"You're what?" everyone muttered.

"Out," Ann repeated, moving her other arm so it was also away from the ropes.

Dustin chuckled, then looked at Bruce. "I guess I'm not always the one with bright ideas,"

"Shut up, Englehorn! Ann, can you get out completely?" Bruce asked.

"I think so," Ann nodded, shifting. "Englehorn, can you just move your shoulder forward a bit?"

Dustin nodded and did as he was told.

Ann slid out from the ropes. "I'm out!" she whispered.

"Good. Find something to get us out!" Jack hissed.

Ann nodded and was just about to crawl away when she stopped, hearing three voices.

"SHIT! THEY SAW!" Bruce pointed out, seeing three men coming towards them. One was new, but the two from before were also there.

The new man came running over, trying to get Ann. Dustin put his leg out to trip the man, and when he succeeded, kicked him again to knock the wind out of him.

Since the other two were far enough to react, but still close to the group, the shorter one drew his gun and pointed it squarely at Dustin's chest. "Not a move, fool," he snarled.

"Er, Patridge, I wouldn't do that if I were you," the taller one muttered.

"Why not, Malcom?!" Patridge growled. "It'll save Grant the trouble. You know it's him he wants dead most of all, that and the Gustave fellow!" Patridge snapped, pointing his gun briefly at Gustave before pointing it back at Dustin.

Malcom chuckled. "No, I wouldn't do that, because that would make me have to do this,"

The tied up group watched in confusion as Partridge suddenly went rigid before falling over, revealing Malcom again, but it looked like Malcom had just knocked out Partridge with the butt of his rifle.

Malcom snorted. "Sorry about that," he muttered to Partridge before taking the bill of his hat and putting it up slightly.

Dustin froze, not believing what he was seeing. "Greg?!"

Malcom, or Greg, looked at the German and smiled. "Sorry, Dust. Looked like you needed some help… Hello Little Brother. Long time no see,"

**A/N: I'll try to not make the next chap ending a cliffhanger, but no promises… it's just so fun making them... REVIEW!**


	15. Lost and Found

Gregory Englehorn, known more to his family and friends as Greg, stared at the group, amused. He was just about Dustin's height and had eyes that were a similar blue, though he had graying brown hair. He had last seen Dustin the previous year, and he had come to his rescue since there was a man yelling at Dustin for 'putting his daughter in danger by letting her go out hunting in Africa with her fiancee'. Greg had pointed out that it really was the fiancee's fault to bring her out. A few more words were exchanged, and Greg had finally won the father over. Now at present, he was amused, seeing he had to come to his brother's aid yet again. "Well, could you?"

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Another family reunion? You've gotta be kidding me! Next thing you know, it's gonna turn out that I have a brother, too!"

Elle paused. "… You _do_ have a brother, Bruce."

Bruce blinked. "Oh yeah, Reed. Whoops,"

"Baxter, Elle, I'm sorry, but be quiet. Greg, what the hell are you doing here?!" Dustin demanded.

Greg smirked, taking a knife out of his back pocket. "You don't think that I would just sit here and watch my little brother and his friends get hurt, did you?" he knelt down next to his brother and started cutting the top rope. He glanced at Elle and Ann with a smile. He tapped his hat in greeting. "Miss. Denham, Mrs. Driscoll,"

Jack tilted his head. "You know 'em both?"

Greg glanced at him. "Yeah. I know Elle here because Dustin introduced me to her, then a couple of years back when I was visiting him on the Venture, Ann had that one acting job that needed transport to Maine. I thought Ann was going to smack the director if he hadn't agreed to let Dustin here take them to their destination after he offered,"

Jack raised his eyebrows at two things. While Dustin's accent was somewhat thick, there was barely evidence of one in Greg's voice, and Ann had told him that Dustin had taken her and various film crews to a few locations, but he had never heard she had been so desperate to get his service. Then again when you're with someone who pretty much saved your life several times in under a week, the loyalty probably stayed.

"I meant how are you here on the island? Forget why you're doing this," Dustin shook his head.

"I overheard a friend who turned out to be friends with Gustave here saying they were looking for you. Of course, since I'm the oldest man of the family, I felt I had a responsibility to look out for you. I found out they got you, came up with a fake name and got onboard,"

"And didn't wait until now to show up? Thanks, pal," Jack snapped.

"Jack, quiet," Dustin scolded. "Greg-"

"You should be the one being quiet, Brother. I'm helping you get out of here," Greg tossed another one of the ropes aside when he had cut through and shifted it so he could get working on the one below it. "There's a boat coming here. I sent out a message a couple of hours before Grant had the ship blown up,"

Jack blinked. "Thanks,"

Greg smiled at him. "Well, that's better than the one I heard a couple of moments ago. You're welcome," he cut the last rope.

Jack and Bruce leaned forward so the ropes fell.

Greg looked back at them and backed up when the others got up very slowly, trying to get their center of gravity back since they had been sitting most of the day. He chuckled, seeing Bruce stumble a bit more then everyone else. "That would be Bruce Baxter, I take,"

Bruce smirked. "Know me from movies? You a fan?"

Greg shook his head. "No, sorry. Dustin here just describes people well,"

Bruce glared at Dustin. "We wonder why,"

Dustin ignored him. "…Thank you, Greg,"

Greg raised his eyebrows as if he hadn't heard his brother. "I'm sorry?"

Dustin rolled his eyes. "Thank you, happy? We didn't know how we were going to get outta this one… I just can't believe that you'd be the one helping,"

Greg smiled. "Coming from you, that's pretty much saying 'I love you', I'm honored, really,"

Dustin frowned then muttered something in German.

Greg smiled at patted his back. "Get out of here. I can cover you. Who knows, maybe I'll meet up with you later,"

"Come with us _now_," Ann suggested.

Greg chuckled. "Mrs. Driscoll, I'd love to, but who would be there to save you if you get caught again? I doubt Driscoll and my brother can always play the hero,"

Bruce nodded. "Yeah, we pretty much got that established a couple of hours ago,"

Greg frowned. "Now I see why my brother doesn't like you," he said coldly.

"Well, there's also the fact that there's a stupid love triangle going on here that also adds up to the dislike for each other," Bruce pointed out.

Greg sighed. "Are you guys going or not?" he sighed. "You still have to be alive for me to cover you, and if you don't move soon, you just may not be,"

"And they could kill you if they figure out you did this," Dustin motioned at

"Which is exactly why after you leave, I'm tossing the knife over by where you were and I'm gonna act as if you knocked me out,"

Dustin looked at . "What about him?"

"He was drunk. Grant hates him being drunk. Never believes him," Greg replied.

Dustin pressed his lips together, trying to decide.

Greg looked at him. "Trust me for once. Again, I'm the oldest of our dysfunctional family, dragged into it by our mother's 'wonderful' marriage with our 'swell' father. Usually that means everyone listens to me… as much as possible,"

"And we've been here before, so that gives us an upper hand and knowledge about this place," Dustin countered.

"Has anyone ever told you that you worry too much?" Greg asked.

Dustin glared at him.

Greg chuckled. "Fine. I'll meet you by that old tree house tomorrow morning. Don't care what time, just be there. Do we have an accord?"

"You know about the house?" Gustave asked after Dustin's face finally held an expression that he was satisfied, but still unsure.

"Hard to miss, don't you think?" Greg replied, then looked back at Dustin. "Well?" he offered his hand.

Dustin sighed and shook it. "Be careful,"

Greg nodded, then let his hand drop, but only for a moment. "Here," he pulled out another knife and handed it to him. "You'll need this. Now get out of here before they _do_ see you,"

The group reluctantly did.

--

A couple of hours had passed, and dark clouds were forming above where the group was now trying to make a makeshift camp. Dustin and Gustave had been gathering fallen logs. Jimmy, Jack and Bruce were using the logs to build walls and were now working on the roof, and the girls had been put in charge of getting leaves that looked like they came from a larger-than-normal banana tree up on top to enforce the roof.

"So… Dusty…" Gustave began, breaking the silence that had been between them.

"Dustin, Englehorn, or Dust. I'm shooting the next person who calls me Dusty," Dustin growled.

Bruce coughed, then muttered 'Dusty' and coughed again. He let out a yell of alarm when some bark from the log that he was setting down came flying off after a shot rang out. He looked at Dustin. "Are you insane?! Did you _really_ just try to _kill me_?!"

"That was the idea," Dustin smirked, then went to go get another log and bring it further towards the new shelter.

Gustave raised his eyebrows before following the younger man. "You definitely hate each other,"

"Well, you have your…" Dustin grunted, not expecting the log to be as heavy as it was. "… Daughter to thank for that," he caught the man's disapproving look. "I didn't mean that offensively,"

"With you, one can never be too sure," Gustave got another log.

"Same with you," Dustin pointed out, helping him.

Gustave chuckled. "You really haven't changed. No wonder you and Elle hit it off so well,"

"Oh gimme a break," Bruce muttered, then lowered himself slightly and jumped off of the roof, landing with surprising balance. He looked up at the sky and frowned, seeing dark grey clouds up above. " D'you think we're in for a storm as bad as the one we got when we were just getting here last time?"

"Let's hope not, but then again, we don't have waves to worry about, and there are nothing but trees around here. It's sheltered, and this seems to be a low spot," Jack replied, also getting down. "But if I were you, I wouldn't jinx it by going on about it,"

Bruce rolled his eyes. "How would I jinx it? By doing this?" he tossed his arms up in the air. "Let… it rain!" a moment later there was a clap of thunder and rain started pouring down on the group. Bruce pressed his lips into a thin line and hung his head.

"You just _had_ to be an idiot, didn't you, Baxter?" Dustin growled, getting a few of the makeshift tools they had made and shoving them under the enclosure. "Fantastic. Just _fantastic_,"

Bruce scowled. "Let's just remember that the last time we were here, I convinced you to come back for them!" Bruce argued, pointing at Jack and Ann, who were already rubbing their arms to keep warm since the rain was freezing.

Jimmy and Elle exchanged looks, then when they saw Gustave looked just plain confused, they simply said "You don't wanna know,". Being that he was used to the group's antics by now, Gustave didn't ask questions, just joined the rest of the group other than Bruce and Dustin that were going under the enclosure since the other two were arguing.

"Huh? I knew I would find something that you couldn't argue about!" Bruce grinned.

"You didn't convince me to go back, I was perfectly ready to go back because I cared for Jack and Ann, and Elle and Jimmy more so, so you can't use that. Besides, I still think you're an idiot," Dustin replied, then joined the rest of the group.

Jack snorted. For some reason, he thought Dustin's reply seemed like something Preston would say, though Preston was a lot nicer. The snort turned into a laugh when Bruce just mumbled something under his breath, shoved his hands in his pockets and joined the others.

--

The next morning, Ann woke up, hearing the men and Elle talking quietly. She sat up slowly. "What's going on?"

"Even we're not sure yet," Elle replied.

"Is there something wrong?" Ann asked.

Jack nodded. "What's wrong with this picture? You just woke up, and we're in a circle talking and Englehorn's over there looking around," Jack pointed at Englehorn, who was doing exactly what Jack said, leaning against one of the logs that acted like a support to the shelter.

Ann blinked, then caught on. "He's usually arguing with Bruce," she pointed out.

"Exactly. Problem is, Bruce is nowhere in sight," Elle replied.

Ann looked around, seeing that she was right. "Where could he have gone?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out, Miss. Darrow," Jimmy replied. "He's a coward, so I doubt he would've gone too far, and I doubt he would've gone in the direction that Grant's group came from, so that doesn't leave many places to go,"

"He's right. I haven't even seen any movement at all," Dustin agreed without looking back at them.

"Has he ever disappeared like this before?"

"Not when we wanted him to, no," Dustin replied.

"Did anyone even hear him get up any time last night? I know I didn't," Jack asked.

"My brother was the only one who came and went from here last night," Dustin replied.

The silence from the others indicated that they agreed.

"Should we look for him?" Ann asked.

"With Grant and his pals out there? No," Jack replied. "Who knows, maybe Bruce is actually working with them,"

Elle scoffed. "Jack, come on, that's thinking even lower of him than I do. He's dumb, but not that dumb,"

"How well do you know the guy to be confident that you're right?" Jack demanded.

Dustin turned around. "Jack, back off. She's wondering about Baxter's whereabouts just as much as you are. We don't need to tear each other apart about theories,"

Jack sighed and looked at Elle. "Sorry…"

Elle nodded. "It's okay," she looked at Ann. "Maybe she's right. We should go looking for him, even with Grant's group out there. Maybe he went to go out for water or something and they found him, or he ran into a dinosaur or something…"

"Wait, you're worried about him?" Jack raised his eyebrows.

"I'd be worried about any of you in this situation, I was worried about you and Ann last time we were here. I was worried about _Carl_, the first couple of times that you were on the island, and-"

Dustin cut her off. "You have her to thank that you're alive right now. If she hadn't convinced me to go after you the first time, who knows what the natives might have done to you. The second time I went after you, you have…" he trailed off as realization dawned on him. "You would've died if Baxter hadn't convinced me to go back. You owe him your lives, so it's only fair that we try to find him,"

Jack seemed convinced after the last part. "Fine," he got up. "We'll try straight ahead first, then we'll go in a circle around the place,"

Gustave got up, as did Jimmy. "We're game,"

Dustin nodded. "Let's go," he started leading them out towards the jungle area. "… And if we find Baxter and one of you tell him that I just used his argument from before that he used against me, there's going to be Hell to pay,"


	16. Thomas Whitmore

**A/N: Sorry for the wait. Don't own King Kong, yada yada yada. Changed the fic's title because I'm pretty much obsessed w/ Nickelback's new CD. I may actually change it again to "If Today Was Your Last Day"... any Nickelback fans out there who've heard Dark Horse? What do you think? Both songs fit for me... so... second or more opinions? Please? (sigh) The chap's short and has ANOTHER cliffhanger ending, but this one's more far-fetched than the others… … mwa haha. Anyways, thanks for the reviews, hope you enjoy this chap, and have a good New Year!!!!**

**That night:**

The night had become darker than anyone in the group had remembered, and another distant storm didn't help, so the group had no choice but to make camp and continue the search in the morning. They returned to their makeshift shelter, waited for Greg, who told them that Grant's group had believed the story he told and they weren't anywhere close to discovering where they were. Afterwards, most of them had gone to sleep but the women. The only sound that was audible was Gustave's muffled snoring.

Elle lifted her head slightly after hearing Ann sigh. She wasn't aware that she wasn't the only one awake. "Ann, is that you?"

"Yes," Ann replied weakly from a few feet away.

Elle felt around for Dustin's arm around her waist. When she found it, she set it at his side and sat up. "What's wrong? Don't tell me 'nothing's wrong' because you sound upset,"

"I'm just… scared, Elle," Ann replied.

Elle heard shuffling a few feet away, indicating Ann had either stood or sat up. "Why?"

Ann shook her head. "I'm just barely into three months of being pregnant, but I'm worried. What if we're here for six more months, Elle? I don't want to give birth here… have my baby son or daughter live the beginning portion of its life here,"

Elle smiled weakly. "Ann, don't think like that. We'll be home before you even have to consider that. I promise,"

Ann smiled as well. "That's exactly what Englehorn said to me when he got up earlier. He thought he heard a noise to our right, but it was just me. Said he had faith in what his brother said about sending the message… Elle, do you believe him?"

"Dustin or Greg?"

"Greg, of course! If I said I wasn't sure about Dustin you'd probably take his gun and try to shoot me,"

Elle chuckled, then shrugged. "I do, trust him, that is, but at the same time, I'm also a bit unsure, just like you. He was working with Grant, but… after he helped us… I decided that there are way too many people we can't trust right now,"

"I see," Ann nodded. "…Why are you still up?" she asked.

Elle shook her head. "Honestly, I can't believe I'm saying this, but… I'm worried about Bruce. Between Grant, the dinosaurs… the natives… I wouldn't wish any of those on my worst enemy… and no, he's not my worst enemy,"

Ann laughed. "That's becoming more and more obvious. You're getting better around him. Trust me, I've noticed,"

Elle smiled again. "Me too… I think I'm just getting used to his remarks lately,"

"That makes one of us,"

Elle and Ann jumped slightly, then realized that the comment came from a very tired sounding Jack.

"Sorry, Jack. How long have you been up?"

"Seconds. My back just hit a rock the wrong way or something. I heard from 'worst enemy' up 'til now," he replied.

Now the women managed to make out his shadow.

Jack slowly made his way over to them, trying to be careful of where he stepped, but ended up nearly stepping fully on Jimmy. He caught himself before he put his foot completely down, but he had put enough weight to wake up the younger man. He quickly apologized, then sighed. "Well, now that we're all pretty much up," he looked down and groped around, then found what he was looking for a few moments later, and a short time after that, a small amount of light had started coming from the beginning of a small fire Jack started with a few dry pieces of wood he had collected earlier. "There's only one thing left to do," he nudged Dustin's hip with his foot. "Hey, Englehorn. Wake up,"

"Go to Hell, Baxter," Dustin mumbled.

"I'm not Baxter. Baxter's missing, remember?" Jack asked, nudging him again.

"Then stop taking up his attitude," Dustin grumbled before sitting up.

Everyone snorted, seeing all the hair on the right side of his head was standing up.

"What?" Dustin demanded.

Jimmy cleared his throat and patted the right side of his head.

Dustin sighed and shook his head. It only helped the predicament slightly. "What is it?"

"We're trying to figure out a new plan," Jack replied, poking at the fire with another stick.

Dustin shrugged. "Stay here as long as we can. We know this place is safe, who knows what else is out there?"

Jack nodded. "We still need a way to scout out the place and find out if Grant's people are coming," he didn't notice Jimmy get up and walk a few feet away.

Dustin nodded slowly, coming up with an idea. "Who's the best climber out of us? I know I can't climb for shit… Jack? Ann? Elle? Gustave… when he's conscious?" he let his gaze fall to the fire, staring into it.

"Jimmy?" Jack added, glancing up above Englehorn.

"Jimmy," Dustin nodded.

Jack laughed. "No, I mean Jimmy,"

"I'm not an idiot. I heard you the first time," Dustin shot at him, then paused, feeling something tap his shoulder lightly. He looked to the left, not finding the source. Same went for the right. When he got a harder tap on the top of his head, he looked up, seeing Jimmy hanging from the limb of a nearby tree. He had climbed up and made his way back over to them in a matter of seconds.

"I think he was giving you an answer, Captain," Jimmy grinned. "Hayes didn't make me the guy who climbed up to the crow's nest for nothin', ya know,"

Dustin smiled weakly as did Jimmy at the image of Hayes that flashed through both of their minds briefly. "Alright, Jim. How high up can you get?"

"Pretty far… I think,"

"Let's see," Dustin nodded upwards, standing up as he did so.

"Yes sir," Jimmy nodded and started climbing further up the tree, stopping about ten feet further up than he had been. " 'Bout this!" he called down before starting to descend.

"Ya know, contrary to your group's belief, you and Grant's people weren't the only people here lately," finally came Gustave's muffled voice. He too sat up slowly as Dustin turned to him.

"What?" the captain asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "What do you mean we haven't been the only ones here?" he knelt back down.

Gustave chuckled. "Ran into some ratty-lookin' guy a couple of weeks ago… looked like he went through Hell and back… told me what goes in must come out after he told me about some encounter with one of those creepy things by some pit,"

"Did he give you his name?" Dustin asked. He was about to ask if it was Carl or Preston and they had somehow made it back, but he figured, if he knew Carl, Carl would've made his presence and name known, so Gustave surely would've said if it was his own son. "Why didn't you tell us?" he asked.

Gustave shrugged. "Thought he might've been with you… maybe you lost him and didn't want to mention it,"

Dustin shook his name. "His name, man! What was his name?"

"Thomas Whitmore," Gustave replied. "…Why?"

The color drained out of Dustin's face, and there was a thud behind them, indicating Jimmy had fallen a short distance out of the tree.

"That's impossible," Dustin shook his head, watching Elle run over to Jimmy to make sure he was alright. "You couldn't have seen him two weeks ago. He's dead,"

"Well, he sure wasn't dead last I saw him… and when it comes to people being dead… is it even reasonable for you to use that excuse now? You thought I was dead and here I am!"

Dustin shook his head. "Yes, but-"

Anna cut in. "I'm sorry, but can someone tell the rest of us what's going on?! Who's Thomas Whitmore?"

Elle nodded. "She's right. Feeling left out isn't fun, especially with something like this. Are we missing something?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, what's got you guys so spooked?"

Dustin and Jimmy exchanged looks, before looking back at the others. Dustin swallowed hard. "I always knew you were good with placing people, Gustave," he went over to the tree and leaned on it, shaking his head and looking down. He wished he was able to light up a cigarette, because now he felt he needed it more than any other time lately.

Jack looked back and forth between them. "What's wrong? Do you and Jimmy know this guy Thomas Whitmore?"

Dustin nodded, sharing a look at a very surprised looking Jimmy. The look on both of their faces made for a long, awkward silence.

"Well?" Jack asked, growing irritated.

"We knew him, yes," he looked Jack in the eye. "So did you," he crossed his arms over his chest and looked into the fire yet again.

Jack opened his mouth, then closed it, trying to recall the name. "…Sorry, I don't remember the name at all,"

Dustin shook his head and looked back at the writer. "You wouldn't,"

"Then why are you saying we knew him?" Ann asked.

Dustin now turned his gaze to her. "I'm saying you knew him because…" he pressed his lips into a thin line. "Because Thomas Whitmore was Lumpy's real name…"


	17. Fantastic

**A/N: Yay, Never Gonna Be Alone is staying the title because the song it's based on goes along with "Whispers in the Dark", the song that the first part of this is now named after. I mean, two of the lyrics are almost identical…. Anyways, I don't own King Kong, what you don't recognize… aw, hell, we're a few chapters in and this is the sequel, so I can't really say recognize any more, can I? Anyways, enjoy and review, dang it. It's a really, really short chapter. Life and other stuff's taking up a lot of time. Happy Independence Day, too.**

"Lumpy?" everyone asked.

"The guy who couldn't cook for his life?" Elle added.

The other two nodded.

Elle shook her head. "I'm sorry, but it's impossible, isn't it? I mean…" she pointed at Jimmy, Ann and Jack. "We all saw him get… decapitated, you know?" she winced at the memory.

Jack shook his head. "Who knows with this place."

"Exactly," Dustin nodded.

Gustave chuckled. "Hate to break it to you, folks, but _he_ did show up a couple of weeks ago, not eaten at all. You said he didn't cook much, right? Well, ranted a bit about cabbage, too."

Now everyone turned.

Gustave shook his head. "You just can't make this stuff up."

"No, I believe that part… describe him." Dustin offered.

Gustave thought for a while. "Tall, thin, muscular…"

The captain and Jimmy exchanged looks. One out of three. That didn't look good.

"Kinda hunched, squinty-eyed." Gustave continued. "…Don't remember much else." He realized he was being stared at. "… I take those last two were spot on, then."

Everyone nodded.

Gustave raised his eyebrows. "I don't know what to tell you, then."

"So what're we going to do?" Elle asked.

"Same thing we've been doing: Stay out of it so there's not more trouble to get into." Jack replied. "We haven't been bothered here, so I say we stay put."

------

As the others expected, staying put didn't last long. Between the sounds of various creatures as well as people shouting, they moved on to another spot, then another. They were in the middle of moving yet again when Dustin had the lead, then stumbled into a smaller clearing, half surprised, half not to see Bruce in pretty much one of the last situations he had seen him in. He was hanging upside down, ropes binding both of his legs this time. "Baxter?!"

Bruce saw him. "Englehorn! No! You gotta get outta here! Leave me!" he started waving his hands.

Dustin sighed and took out his knife. "Too much blood is starting to get to your head, Baxter. As far as I'm concerned, you're still one of ours so you're coming down." He headed towards Bruce.

"Englehorn! Have I ever lied to you?!"

Dustin raised an eyebrow.

Bruce paused. "Yeah, well, _on the island_ have I ever lied to you? First time we were here, the others were getting picked off one by one every hour. I told you that exact thing, you came back for us. I told you… why am I arguing? Just get the Hell out of here! The others are probably in trouble anyway!"

"And you're not?" Dustin asked, starting to make a cut.

"No I'm not! Just… oh great,"

Dustin wondered what he meant, but it didn't take him long to realize it, because a moment later, he felt a small poke at his back and then heard a gun cock. He closed his eyes. _Damn._

"Nice goin'," Bruce mumbled.

"Always the hero, yet again, huh Englehorn? Drop the knife, and turn around," Grant ordered from somewhere to his side.

Dustin shook his head and dropped it, also feeling a gun at his arm a moment later. He slowly turned, seeing Jack, Ann, Jimmy, Gustave and Elle being held by a few other crewmembers, one of them being Greg.

"Good work, Baxter, I knew you'd be good for something," Grant called.

"What?!" Bruce demanded. "No! What're you- You bastard!"

Grant chuckled. "It seems, Englehorn, that you and Jack here are mistaken. He's a very good actor. Tricked you as easily as anyone could breathe,"

"Don't listen to him, Englehorn!" Bruce replied, just as two of Grant's men came forward and took the blonde by the arms. "I had nothing to do with this."

"Why do I have a hard time believing that, the way you always look out for what's best for you?" Dustin replied.

"Oh, come on!" Bruce insisted, but didn't have much time to look at the other man because there was an odd metallic sound, followed by ripping, then the next thing he knew, he was sprawled out on the ground, trying to conceal a yell of pain. They had cut the rope. He rolled over and hissed, only to have two other goons get him up and off the ground. "You people just keep coming, don't ya?" They didn't respond. "Fantastic."


	18. Dangerous

**A/N: Yay, another couple of OCs to introduce in another short chapter. One little thing: Dara in this chap and the ones to come is pronounced Dah-Rah. Anyways, enjoy. Thanks for the reviews as well.**

Captain Clifford Newman surprised many people by being one of the few in his family who believed in ghost stories. Granted, the few that could make sense compared to others like children's tales of seeing the ghosts of soldiers at their bedsides. Having interests in ghost stories also led to other supernatural interests. Those interests were what originally drew him to the initial idea of Carl Denham's latest play before the idea became a reality. A twenty five foot tall reality with enough strength to kill a man with one swipe of his arm. After the incident, he had settled in New York, trying to dig up as much information on the island as possible. Some called him crazy, saying that the ape "Kong" was just some animal freak of nature. He begged to differ. Sure enough, he had actually dug up a bit of information. Bit meaning a couple of written documents done by men who had heard a story of the island. He was intrigued by the findings. What got him even more intrigued was having an old friend as well as his ship's "communication man", as the youngest on his crew called him, tell him that he had picked up an S.O.S of sorts that mentioned the island. Without another thought, he had jumped at the chance to help. He wasn't the kind of man to not help people in need, anyway. Now he stood on the deck of his ship, the S.S Cortana, overseeing his crew. However, one member wasn't accounted for, and he wasn't thrilled about it, until he heard their footsteps behind him. Rather, hers. He turned around. "Dara, what did I tell you about where you should be at all times?"

His little sister, Doris "Dara" Newman sighed. "Always keep in your sight." She recited. "Why do you insist on calling me Dara, Cliff?" she demanded.

Clifford smiled. "An unusual nickname for an unusual girl. And don't take that tone with me. You're in my care thanks to mother, so I plan to keep you safe. The sort on ships isn't the sort I would want you around regularly."

Doris sighed and nodded.

Clifford kissed her forehead. "Now go inside the wheelhouse. I'll meet you there."

She nodded again and walked off.

Clifford watched her before going into the chartroom directly behind the wheelhouse, looking over the notes. Now with the coordinates provided, there was a chance of getting to the people in need of help. One problem. As he tracked the points, he found there wasn't anything but water on the map. "What…?". It was then that he remembered. It was said to be hidden. He studied the map again. How hidden, and vice versa?" he opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a small book, flipping open to one of the pages. There was someone he had met who had told him a story of the island. His heart sunk, skimming the pages. He had obviously been so engrossed in the story he didn't seem to realize what words and phrases kept coming up. Danger, turn back, storm, jagged rocks, wall, fog; they were only a few. However, Clifford caught fog and storm. Of course, that did nothing for his nerves, but it gave him an idea of what to expect, even if it was a bad idea. He shook his head. He didn't want his sister to be with him on this trip, but where else was she supposed to go? Their father had abandoned them years ago, only writing once in a blue moon, and their mother had kicked Doris out of the house about four years before, just to try and have her room rented to try and get more money coming in. It had been the siblings on their own since then. He prayed there was something that everyone else was missing. If there was, he was damned if he didn't find it. He just prayed he would find it without trouble. "Jacobson!" he barked, looking for his first mate.

When the skinny blonde man's head popped up from one of the ladders, Clifford nodded. "We're leaving in five minutes. Alert the crew."

"Aye, sir."

---

Back on the island, Jimmy was desperately trying to sort out which members of the part were where, other than Dustin, who was right beside him. They had been tied to extremely thick branches that Jimmy soon realized were large bamboo rods. Their arms and legs were bound around them, and their bodies hung down, so the trip to wherever they were headed was everything but painless After finding out where his father was (He, like Elle, was still having trouble coming to terms with that word being paired with a fac), he looked over to his old captain. "What're we gonna do, skipper?"

Dustin growled a bit. "I don't know, Jimmy. It's a little hard to think with _all the blood rushing to my head_." He glared at the young man, but then frowned and felt guilty when Jimmy looked completely hard. "It depends on where we end up, I guess." He lied, trying to help the situation. He looked to his other side, where Greg was walking, just about level with his shoulder. Greg had made a point of just happening to fall into place there.

The brothers seemed to have a conversation with their eyes, then Greg shrugged after a while.

Jimmy leaned in close. "What was that about?"

Dustin sighed. "Coming to the same conclusion that I did before… minus the blood rushing to his head… which could possibly be helped." He insisted, getting a light knee to the back of the head that was made to look hard. He glared at Greg.

Greg leaned down a bit more, pretending too take extra precautions to avoid a low branch on a tree. "You don't want them suspicious, I'm going to have to rough you up."

"Nothing new." Dustin replied. "Bastard." He growled a little louder before, as if egging him on.

Greg let out a snort.

The next thing, as well as last thing Dustin saw was Greg's fist flying towards his face before his world went black.

Jimmy let out a startled cry, watching the captain go limp.

"Appearances, kid." Greg mumbled, just as Grant shoved his way up through the crowd.

"What'd he do?"

"He was being himself, sir." Greg replied. "Well, at least the self that you said he was."

Grant looked him over, then smirked, patting his shoulder. "Good man." He returned to the back of the group, just where Elle and Gustave were.

Gustave looked at Elle. "I hope our boy knows what he's doing."

"You're not alone there." Elle replied.

Gustave was quiet for a short time, then spoke up again. "You and him ever consider settling down and having kids?"

Elle looked around. "You're asking me this _now_?"

Gustave was quiet while he watched Grant pass by again, then shrugged, or at least attempted to in their current predicament. "Hey, our chances don't look great. If we die, I wanna know if I was gonna have grandkids?"

"Not quite the time."

"Yeah. Guess so." Gustave mumbled.

Elle sighed. "You really have been away from civilization too long."

Gustave raised an eyebrow. "Can't argue there."

He went to stare up at the sky, not having much choice on what else to do, then was surprised to see it suddenly shift, mostly because they did. "What the…?" he looked up, or rather, straight, seeing another crewmember of Grant's coming towards them. "That's him! That's the Whitmore guy!"

Everyone that was bound and in earshot of them instantly followed his gaze. However, they all frowned, seeing that the member wasn't at all Lumpy. They tried not to laugh seeing that they had almost gotten so used to the oddities of the island that they actually expected it to be Lumpy. They had gotten their hopes up for nothing.

However, their opinions instantly changed when they saw him do a doubletake on Dustin, then Jimmy, then they were back to being stunned when the man who apparently wasn't Lumpy spoke- in Lumpy's voice.

"Oi! What's wrong with 'im?!" the crewmember called up the line.

"You have GOT to be kidding." Jack mumbled. _Musta grown up where Lumpy did. That makes sense. It explains the voice. It's not like it's Lumpy's ghost in this guy's body, right? … right? _It was then that he saw that one of the man's eyes were twitching, almost staying droopy. Just like… No. Just no. Jack, weird things happen here… but ghosts taking over bodies? That's worse that some of your first ideas for plays. Pull yourself together. Too late. He looked behind him best he could. "Guys, is it just me, or?"

"Shh!" the women snapped.

Jack looked for Jimmy for support, but when he didn't get it vocally, he was pleased to see that the boy was staring at the crewmember with an identical expression to his own." "Good, I'm not alone."

"Jack! Quiet!" Elle hissed, watching as Grant talked to the crewmember. She studied the crewmember, trying to find anything that could distinguish that it wasn't Lumpy. However, more and more behaviors came up that matched with Lumpy's, and she had to bite her lip to keep from commenting when he turned his head towards her when Grant wasn't looking and winked at her, making a bizarre combo with the other half closed eye. Lumpy had done it on their first journey more than often. At first she had thought it was humorous and cute in a way, but now it creeped her out. "… Well, now I've seen everything." She couldn't resist.

The crewmember nodded after another bit of talking, then pointed at Dustin. "Alright. We relocate. I'll take 'im off Rudy's hands, eh?" he didn't wait for an answer. He walked over to Dustin, shooed away the two crewmembers who were carrying him, then pointed at Greg. "You. 'Elp." He ordered.

Greg snorted a bit, then did a mock bow and took the other side, picking it up and moving to the right as the crewmember- or Lumpy- whoever it was, went in that direction.

Jack shook his head. "Explosions, Kong sounds, dinosaurs, finding long lost people, and now ghosts possessing bodies… what's next?". He honestly wondered if he even wanted to know.

**A/N: End note again. Just a couple of more things. A, I finally made a banner for this fic, and the link's up on my profile, and I also made a rather random banner for this chapter as well. The link's also under my profile. Second order of business, since I'm finally getting into character appearances, the new OC's are:**

**Clifford: Live Schreiber (Of course I didn't plan that since he's Naomi Watts' husband and Jamie Bell's co-star in "Defiance" *shifty eyes* )  
Doris: Alexa Vega  
First Mate (soon to be named Alec Roberts): Michael E. Rodgers**

**… and that'll do it. Thanks for reading, now be totally awesome and review.**


	19. The Storm

**A/N: Another short chapter here. Not too thrilled about that. I'm just really, really busy and have a lot to do… I just repeated myself there. Wow, I'm tired. Enjoy.**

"Elle! Elle… ELLE!"

Elle winced a bit when she felt something hit the side of her face. She didn't know when she had dozed off, but she had. The group had been separated into different areas, however that worked with limited space. "Whatisit?" she mumbled, sitting up. She let her eyes adjust to the light, then spotted Bruce a couple of feet away, his hand on her shoulder. Her expression hardened. Well, hardened as much as it could when she was still half asleep. "Oh. It's you." She tugged her shoulder away and turned. She wasn't entirely convinced that he would turn on them. However, this was _the_ arrogant, selfish Bruce Baxter as well. Something in the back of her mind told her he'd kill his own family if something big could be done for him in return.

"Elle, look. You're the only one who I know will actually listen besides the kid and your pop, and the way the kid listens to Englehorn, I know I don't have much of a chance."

"His name is Jimmy." She snapped.

"Yeah, I know. Ugh. Whatever. Look at me." He shifted and scooted in front of her. "You gotta believe me. I really had nothing to do with this. They set me up. They must 'a had guys trailing us or something, getting to know which of us wasn't held in high regard."

"You see, that's just it, Bruce." Elle replied. "I might've believed that, oh, say, when we got captured, but not a few days _after_." She swung her bound arms side to side, compensating for throwing them up in the air. "You've just been sitting on your ass, talking to them, not doing a damn thing to help us out. At least Greg's keeping up appearances and helping us out at the same time. Not to mention you're an actor. You could be lying through your teeth right now."

"I was actually just allowed on a walk now. You're the first one I came to 'cause I thought you'd be less headstrong."

"…Have we met?"

"Yeah, and I thought you'd be more open about this."

"And again, who knows what deal they could've cut with you in this time."

"Deal? Sweetheart, we're on an _uncharted island_. What kind of deal could they- Ugh. This was what I wanted to avoid."

"Good, then leave if you don't like it. That wouldn't be out of character." Elle replied.

Bryce glared at her, then scoffed, got up and left.

Elle glared at the flap of the tent after he left, then the look softened when Greg came in. She raised an eyebrow when she spotted a plate of God only knew what. "Uh…"

Greg snorted. "No clue. I wouldn't suggest even touching it. I'm just carrying this in and I'm worried for my health.". He put it down. "Wish I could give you something that resembled anything back home."

"Have any pictures of civilization back home?" She smiled.

He shrugged. "I wish." He blinked, then reached down and untied the canteen from his belt, then offered it to her. "Here. Don't worry. Boiled it last night."

Elle laughed, then took it, raising it up in a cheers motion. "Ah, a man who knows his way around making food and drink edible. That's refreshing."

Greg raised and eyebrow, then smirked. "And a woman who knows how to deliver a 'cheers' like a man… That's a bit concerning, honestly."

Elle laughed yet again. "You lie with an arrogant brother who's your only way of getting money for quite some time, go almost everywhere with him, and you pick up certain things."

Greg grinned now. "Touche."

Elle nodded. "So are the others alright?"

Greg nodded. "All are fine. My brother and Ann are asking for you. Nearly took my head off when I had to run out to act like I was still doing rounds."

"Guess he helped you, then." Elle replied.

Greg nodded, then studied her. "There's another question you want to ask me."

"You know just by looking at me?" Elle asked.

Greg pointed at his forehead. "Gift of the Englehorns, my dear."

Elle blushed, then sighed. "We… last time we were here, we had a man with us. One of your brother's crew… the cook."

Greg grinned. "Lumpy."

"You knew him?"

"I did. Good man if you got passed that face… well, entire body of his."

"Exactly." Elle nodded, smiling as her own positive memories of Lumpy went through her mind. "We, well, we lost him last time we were here…" she waited for him to look surprised, but he just looked interested as he had when she had brought it up. Dustin must've told him. "And now, my father told us that he ran into a fellow by the name of Thomas Whitmore… that was apparently his real name… I was wondering if-"

"If I knew him from this crew." Greg finished.

Elle blinked again. "Alright, there was no way-"

"Your friend Jack and my brother both asked about it. I'll repeat my answer: I've never heard of him, I can't really say I've seen him for that same reason, but that doesn't mean he doesn't exist. I could've missed him." He studied her defeated, then irritated expression. "Things just keep getting from bad to worse, hm?"

"Oh, we've passed worse by now." Elle replied.

Greg offered a reassuring smile, then turned. "Well, forgive me, but I have to be off to check on your brother. Don't want suspicion to rise. Oh, and you and Ann might be moved into the same tent, by the way."

"Good. Better to conspire against all of you in twos then alone."

Greg chuckled, then made his exit.

--

If you had asked First Mate Alec Roberts why he had joined Clifford's crew, he would've answered "to see the world" or "to have adventures". He would not have answered "to be in the middle of a storm" or "To see how good his sea legs were". However, the latter was exactly what he was learning… the hard way. The man, barely out of his twenties, was currently getting thrown about, slamming hard against the railing and wall of the ship. Usually he could manage the ship's rocking, but the huge waves caused by the sudden storm made it difficult. His hat long gone, his long blonde hair was soaked and ticking to his neck, sending the cold water down his neck and onto his back. That was not helping anything at all. "Cliff?! Cliff!" he called over the crashing. He glanced up at the upper level of the ship, and somehow managed to see the figure of the ship's captain literally slide into view. Clifford had also been tossed a good few feet and managed to get a grip on the floor somehow and brace himself just enough to slide to the edge by the railing before falling off. "Alec? What is it?!"

Alec laughed. "Just making sure you're still here, sir!"

"Remind me I owe you a cuff to the head for that, boy! Did we lose anybody?"

"No, sir! Not-" he lurched forward to grab one of the men that was just about to go overboard and change the report he was giving. "Yet!" he finished, patting the man on the back before shoving the near-victim back towards the center of the ship. "You stay on the ship, too, sir!"

"Where else would I want to go willingly?!" Clifford called back.

"Doris alright?!" Alec asked.

"Seasick in her cabin!" Cliff replied.

"Tell her it'll be over soon!" Alec suggested.

"She's not thirteen anymore, Alec. She won't believe that!"

"Couldn't hurt to try!"

"She hits!" Clifford called before turning to assess any possible damage, but his vision focused on one thing more than the ship: a dark outline. "What on." His stomach lurched when the ship's bow when down abruptly. He hit the floor quickly so the force of the water that came up didn't hurt him too badly, then got up, trying to see the outline again, and he did. And then the spray of the water and fog cleared, only for a moment, but it made the man stare straight ahead, wondering if he had actually seen what he had seen:

A large, tall, stone wall, somewhere in the distance.


	20. Escape

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I got a new job that's taken up like, 98% of my time, then a friend of mine died, so I just haven't had time/ in the mood to write. Good news is now I'm back and it won't take so long for the new wait. This chapter references stuff in the game in the beginning. For people who haven't seen/ played it, there are these giant mutant king crab… _things_ that try and kill you. They're easy kills, but annoying as Hell- kinda like the natives, now that I think of it… anyway, enjoy.**

**

* * *

**

Oh, one last fairly humorous thing. That new job I mentioned is a cashier grocery store. I had a customer whose name was Jack Driscoll the other day. Yes, it's a common last name, but it was still funny. Ahem. Moving on.

3 hours ago:

"Captain? Captain, you alright?"

Clifford slowly opened his eyes, then closed them again. His head was pounding, and his body didn't seem to want to move either. He let out a low moan. "What happened, Alec?" he questioned when he recognized his first mate's voice.

"Sir, the storm. We got… there was a wave, and now we're stuck… well, kind of stuck at least."

Clifford opened one eye and looked around. Just what the Hell was that supposed to mean? However, he spotted the Cortana, and although tilted to the side slightly, it was eerie how easily it had come up on the shore with minimal visible exterior damage. "Help me up, will you?" He held up one of his arms.

"Sure." Alec took Clifford's arm and pulled him to his feet.

Clifford looked around again, seeing several of his crew walking around. Some were limping, others were rubbing their necks. "Anybody seriously hurt?"

Alec shrugged. "By some miracle, this is basically it. There will be a few scrapes and bruises, but…"

Clifford grunted. "I don't like this place already." He turned to his crew. "Alright, men. We're going to need some of you on a search team, some of you to repair damages. Ten heads on each. I'm going further on, Alec is staying here. I want Hazleton, Myles, and Richmond with me. Kent, Valera, Renz, you stay with Alec. The rest, go wherever you wish."

The men did as they were told, making the groups behind Alec and Clifford.

Once Alec saw the men were talking amongst themselves, Alec approached Clifford. "You sure you don't want me to go? What if something happens?"

Clifford put a reassuring hand on the blonde's shoulder. "These men will be in the most danger out there instead of here. I protect my men in the more dangerous situations, no matter what they've done in the past, hm? Besides, I trust you most of all with protecting my little sister."

After a moment, Alec nodded. "Fine. Be care…" He trailed off as something shifted on the cliff above them and caught his attention. "What the Hell was that?"

"What?" Clifford raised an eyebrow, looking in the direction Alec was now staring. "What did you see?"

"I haven't got a clue." Alec replied, looking up at the ledge above them.

Cliff kept looking as well, knowing Alec wasn't one to see things. He stepped back when some of the rocks on top of the ledge fell down- nearly on top of part of the gathered crew. A second later, a dark brown blur came almost flying off of the ledge and to the ground below. The crew backed up and gaped, mumbling various things when they realized the blur was some type of giant crab- and like any crab, it was angry. Its pincers were snapping at a rapid pace, and it was just scurrying side to side.

"What's it doing?" Clifford heard one of the other crewmembers call, amongst all the other calls of "what the hell is that?!" that were heard. He thought it was Renz, mumble to another. "It's waiting for something." Clifford mumbled, looking around slowly. He spotted a reasonably sized piece of driftwood on the ground to his left. He knew it wouldn't do much damage, but he was unarmed at the moment, unlike most of the gathered people, and since it was sharp, it would have to do. Keeping his eyes on the crab, he bent down, ever so slowly, and took it, standing up in the same manner. He spotted movement out of the corner of his eye, and frowned, seeing there were about three or more crabs coming. A look to the other side told him that another group of crabs were coming. "He's waiting for his friends." His grip tightened on the driftwood, waiting for action, since now the gathered army, for lack of a better term, of these things were crowding together, and looked ready to charge. "Get ready, boys."

Sure enough, the crabs made their own charge a moment later.

While Clifford took a swing at the closest ones, the crew scrambled for weapons or cover. Once about half the gathered crabs were gone, Clifford split the driftwood in two, then with a hard well aimed toss, he nailed one of the beasts at the bottom of its chest. After a few more minutes, the rest were also dead. The crew just gawked at the creatures that had met them. Clifford spotted the one he had killed with the split driftwood, went over to it and took out the driftwood. He pushed and flipped the body over to examine it further. Once he did, he looked back up, surveying the rest of the shore. "Boys… this mission just got a lot more interesting."

Bruce barely managed to duck from another punch that one of Grant's crew delivered. "I told you, I'm done. I can't do this anymore!"

Grant smirked and got up from the tree stump he had been sitting on. "You see, Mr. Baxter, that's where you don't have a choice."

Bruce scowled. "You know, I don't care anymore. Put me back with them. I can't stand them looking at me like that! You've already beat me senseless now, what's the the difference?"

Grant chuckled. "Oh, that?" He nodded at the other crewmember who had beaten Bruce. "He just did that because he doesn't like your movies."

Bruce glared at him. "And you wouldn't have beat the shit outta me?" he replied sarcastically, which earned him another kick to the side. "Just let the girls go, then. It's the guys that you have an issue with, isn't it?"

Grant shrugged. "Could go both ways, at this rate."

Bruce scoffed. "They haven't done anything to you."

"It's the side that counts in this day and age."

Bruce snorted. "Englehorn may have something to say on that."

"You mistake me for someone who cares, Mr. Baxter."

Bruce sighed. "It was worth a shot." He saw the other crewman coming at him again, and in some burst of energy even he didn't know he had, he elbowed the man hard in the stomach to avoid another blow. To his surprise, the man fell back and curled up in pain. "Hm," He smirked at Grant.

Grant raised an eyebrow. "… What's in this for me if I accept and let the girls go?"

"Absolutely nothing. I did something for you, you do something for me. We're even."

Grant smirked. "Or it starts all over again where you owe me one…"

Bruce narrowed his eyes, wondering what Grant was up to, but he realized he didn't have a choice if he wanted to get his friends safe. "Fine…"

"Good. Then we have an accord." He grabbed Bruce by the back of his shirt and yanked him up, onto his feet. "But you need to come with me for now, hm?"

--

Present:

"I don't get it. Why did they just let you and I go?" Elle questioned, casting an uneasy look behind them to see if sailors were tailing them.

"I haven't got a clue." Ann replied. "Jack or Englehorn don't like this?"

"Really? What was your first clue? Jack cursing the guy out or Dustin ready to pounce on the one holding him back?"

"Bit of both?" Ann countered, giving the sarcasm right back with a smile that showed she meant no harm.

Elle looked around. "I mean, yes, he let us go, but where are we supposed to go? This place is huge, but at the end of the day, you still end up in the same place you started." She kicked a rock towards a bush, which in turn disturbed a foot-and-a-half-long centipede, which started slithering their way, causing the girls to shriek and run the other direction. When they were satisfied it wasn't coming after them for revenge, they relaxed and kept walking, hoping to get to the shore of the island. Part of the shore that the natives didn't inhabit, at least. They just hoped they got lucky and were successful in that aspect. They had a sinking feeling they weren't.

Grant smirked as he walked into his male prisoners' tent. "Hello there. Wondering where your loves are?"

While Dustin, Jimmy and Gustave mentally killed the man in front of them, Jack did the talking. "What did you do with them? Why did you let them go?"

Grant shrugged. "Can't a man show some mercy once in a while?"

Gustave let out a weak laugh. "You? Mercy? That'll be the day."

"Oh, but it is, old friend." Grant replied. "I figured it's the right thing to do to let the women go."

Jimmy wanted to curse the man and say how bad of an idea it was, but realized that was probably what Grant wanted. Gustave had similar thoughts, and his reply was spitting in Grant's face. Of course, the action got him a rough punch to the jaw. Dustin went to lunge at Grant, but it didn't work well, being that they were all bound by the hands to a post in the center of the tent.

Grant looked at him and laughed. "You oor, pathetic man. Worried about your future father in law? Be lucky that wasn't you."

Dustin glared at him, but it didn't last long. A smirk replaced the look of hatred. "I'm going to get out of this soon, and when I do, I swear to God, I'll kill you."

Grant studied him, then returned the smirk. "Always look forward to your challenge, Englehorn." He turned and whistled, and in walked Greg, his eyes set on the ground as opposed to Grant or the other men. Grant looked at him. "Keep an eye on them. I don't want any funny business going on."

Greg tapped his hat, then watched as Grant left. He waited a few seconds, then when he was satisfied that Grant or any other crewmen weren't coming back, he shook his arm. A dinner knife fEll from a spot he had wrapped up to make it look like he was injured. He tossed it between Jimmy and Dustin. "Make it quick." He whispered.

"Hard with our position, isn't it?" Dustin countered.

"I wasn't talking to you, boy." Greg winked.

Dustin turned and saw Jimmy reaching for the knife with a free hand. He slowly grinned, realizing what the squirming he had felt before was. The young man must've found a way out of the ropes somehow and gotten one hand free. "You little shit."

Jimmy grinned at his captain, then started cutting the ropes that bound them. Within two minutes, Jimmy and Dustin were free, and with a tug, the other two were as well. They all mumbled acknowledgements of pain in their wrists. However, all four sprung back when Grant came back in and glared at Greg, who glared right back, as if nothing had changed.

Grant exhaled deeply. "As much as it pains me to say this, we need you after all." His disappointed look faded. "We've just made a very good find, and could use your… previous knowledge of the island."

"Why should we help you?" Jack demanded.

Grant shrugged. "As we've both said before… you don't have a choice. Now…" He closed the gap between him and the others and bent over to get at the ropes, then went wide-eyed, seeing they were cut. "What on-" He didn't count on getting punched in the stomach by Dustin, let alone getting completely winded by it. The same went for the blow that fell right between his shoulders. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

Greg blinked. "…You still don't waste time, do you?"

"He's just lucky I didn't break his neck." Dustin replied.

Greg rolled his eyes, then heard a commotion outside. "Stay here." He ordered.

The other four waited, flinching when they heard a couple of gunshots. After a moment or so, Greg poked his head into the tent. "Alright, let's go."

Jack, Jimmy and Gustave bolted out and Dustin followed after kicking Grant in the ribs. However, he practically tripped over the other four when he got out, being that they had stopped short. He looked up to see just what had caused the pause in the escape attempt, and froze once he did. "…Fantastic."

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**A/N: Yes, it's short, but yay, it's back to the cliffhanger endings! WOO! … you people probably hate me now, haha. Alright, onto re-editing Whispers in the Dark. Im still working on a couple of videos for these fics too, in case any of you want to know that little mini fact. Hope you enjoyed this chap. Review, tell me what you thought.**


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